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DUKE 
UNIVERSITY 


DIVINITY SCHOOL 
LIBRARY 











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Digitized by the Internet Arch 
in 2022 with funding from 
_ Duke University Libraries 





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VIEWS OF KEMENDINE SCHOOL. 


RETROSPECT. 


A Review of the Educational Work 


OF 


The Woman’s Baptist Foreign 
Missionary Society. 


1873 — 1900. 


Published by 
Eke Woman's Baptist Foreign Missionary Society, 


Gremont Temple, Boston, Wass. 


ae 
nar 


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INTRODUCTION. 


At this close of our third decade as a Woman’s 
Foreign Missionary Society, and the close as well of 
this great missionary century, we bring to you a brief 
review of some of the schools founded and maintained 
by the Woman’s Baptist Foreign Missionary Society. 
It is impossible to include all of the four hundred 
schools with their fourteen thousand pupils, — many of 
these are small village schools, — but we have selected 
most of our leading boarding-schools and a few of the 
more prominent day schools and kindergartens for your 
consideration. To those who have responded so kindly 
and promptly to our request for help, we extend our 
hearty thanks. It is to them that we owe whatever of 
interest is found in this little volume. It will surely 
be an encouragement to those who have worked with 
this society for the evangelization of the world to see 
how God has used the faithful missionary teacher. 
Trained Christian workers are an indispensable feature 
in such evangelization, and it is to train such workers 
that our Woman’s Society exists. 

As we read the brief record of this educational work, 
no argument will be needed to prove the value of edu- 
cation in missions. No missionary of judgment or 
experience denies the place of education in the work 
of evangelization, though there may be sometimes a 
difference of opinion as to the methods and extent of 
such education. Thousands have gone eut from the 
Christian home life of these schools strong to do battle 
against heathenism. As the Master chose his little 
company of disciples and prepared them to do the 
work that he must soon leave in their hands, so. the 
faithful missionary is ever seeking to train the best 
material available, and so perpetuate his life and 
work. 


It may be that some, after noting these results, 
will feel led to devote a part of their means to 
Christian education in heathen lands. Last year 
fifty-five million dollars were lavished on education 
in this country alone, already so richly provided 
with schools and colleges. The little invested in our 
work has brought wonderful returns. Surely the 
amount invested ought to be multiplied many times. 
Is there a nobler monument in this world than those 
buildings on the Northfield hills, where thousands of 
young men and women are being fitted to go out into 
Christian service? Oh, that we might have in heathen 
lands more institutions of this kind sending out an 
army of noble Christians working for the salvation of 
their own people. Not until Christians seize this 
strategic opportunity and give as God has given to 
them can we hope to accomplish the evangelization 
of all nations as Christ commanded. We need money 
and workers. Who will go? Who will send? 

The work depends not alone on those at the front, 
but on you in our circles, young and old, who have 
furnished the sinews of war, and have given and 
prayed and struggled and striven, that these schools 
might be and might be continued. Have you ever 
made a sacrifice for a school in Burma, or a teacher in 
Japan, or a child in India? Then read with joy this 
history of your own work, and pray that others may 
read and appreciate and help. We have made only a 
beginning in thirty years. Let us build on this foun- 
dation in the years that are to come, believing that 
faithful seed-sowing is sure to bring at last an abun- 


dant harvest. 
Le We owe 


CONTENTS. 


[Introduction 


SCHOOLS IN BURMA. 


A sketch of the Kemendine Girls’ School, Rangoon, 
Kindergartens in Rangoon : : 


History of the Pegu High School, Rangoon . 


ve of the School at Thongze 

BG of the Prome Mission School 

oe of the School at Zigon 

se of the Ilenzada Burman Mission School 


Historical sketch of the Morton Lane Boarding 
School for Burmese Girls . 

Raymond House Kindergarten at Moulmcin 

The American Baptist Mission Burmese Boys’ 
School, Moulmein ‘ 

Record of the English Girls’ High School. Moul- 
mein 

The Bassein Karen School 

Mission Schools in Tavoy 

A few facts about the Pwo Karen Mission School 
at Maubin . 

The Shwegyin Karen School 

The Tharrawaddy School 

The School for Chins at Sandoway 

The Chin School at Thayetmyo 

The Kachin School, Bhamo 

Telugu and Tamil Schools in Burma 

The Burman Woman’s Bible School, Rangoon 

The Karen Woman’s Bible School, Rangoon . 

Sketch of School in Mongnai, Southern Shan 
States . 


PAGES 


iii 





33-38 


59-63 
64-66 
67-70 
71-73 


CONTENTS. — (Continued.) 





SCHOOLS AMONG THE ‘TELUGUs. 
Beginnings of the Girls’ School in Nellore 
The Girls’ Boarding School, Nellore, India 
The Boys’ School, Nellore 
History of Nellore Normal School . 


= of the Ramapatam Mission School 
cS of the Cumbum Boarding School 


of the Madras Boarding and Day Schools, 
se of the Vinukonda Boarding School 
of the School at Secunderabad . 


SCHOOLS IN ASSAM. 
The Tura Training School 
The Education of Women among the Garos . 
The Evolution of a School on the Edge of the 
World 


SCHOOLS IN JAPAN. 
The Mary L. Colby Home at Yokohama 
The Sarah Curtis Home at Tokyo 
The Evolution of a Kindergarten 
The Tsukiji Kindergarten and Tokyo Day School . 
** ]Tinomoto Jogakko,” Himeji 


Zenrin Kindergarten, Kobe 


SCHOOLS IN CHINA. 
The Boys’ Boarding School in Swatow 


The Swatow Girls’ School 


SCHOOLS IN AFRICA. 


Notes on the Banza Manteke Schools 
Sketch of Ikoko School 


90-93 
94-97 
98-101 
102-104 
105-109 
110-111 
112-115 
116-119 
120-124 


125-129 
130-133 


134-138 


139-143 
144-148 
149-153 
154-155 
156-158 
159-166 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Views of Kemendine School 


Mrs. Luther, Rev. and Mrs. Sumner R. Vinton 


Prome Mission, Burma 


Tavoy Mission, Ah Syoo and Family, English High 


School, Moulmein 
Mrs. Harriet Carpenter 
Sgau Karen School at Bassein 
Burman Woman’s Bible School, Rangoon 
Karen st us oe sh 
Mission House, Nellore . 
High Caste Hindu Girls . 
Tura Mission 
Mary Lowe Colby 
The Sarah Curtis Home at Tokyo . 
Miss Rolman’s Kindergarten, ‘Tokyo 
Girls’ School, Himeji, Japan 
The Swatow Girls’ School 


Mission School at Ikoko, Africa. a 


OPPOSITE 
PAGE 








A SKETCH OF THE KEMENDINE GIRLS’ 
SCHOOL, RANGOON, BURMA. 


MRS. JENNIE BIXBY JOHNSON. 


The Kemendine Girls’ School is one of the bright- 
est spots in our mission. Let us study its beginning, 
progress, and results. 

Mrs. Cephas Bennett had sustained, largely at her 
own expense, two day schools; one at Lamadaw and 
the other at Kemendine. In October, 1870, Miss A. R. 
Gage went from Bassein to Rangoon by invitation 
of Dr. Stevens and Mrs. Bennett, to take charge of 
these schools during Mrs. Bennett’s absence in Amer- 
ica. The day school at Kemendine was held in the 
house of the native preacher and was taught by his 
daughter. One girl of fifteen, supported by Mrs. 
Bennett, boarded in his family. The conversion, spir- 
tual growth, and sudden, but triumphal death of this 
girl impressed Miss Gage anew with the advantages of 
a Christian home in the development of character, and 
she desired to give other girls the same opportunity. 
In April, 1871, Miss Gage received as a boarding 
pupil a girl ten years old, and was obliged also to take 
her brother. In May two orphan girls were given her, 
and in August two more girls whose mother was 
insane. A Christian woman from a heathen village 
soon came with two daughters whom she longed to 
place under Christian influences. Dr. Wade’s heart 
was so touched by her appeals that he gave Miss Gage 
fifteen rupees to enable her to take them. 

In January, 1872, she asked the Society at home 
for more money and a house for this girls’ boarding 
school. The annual report, July, 1872, mentions the 
two day schools under her care, and also gives the 
following paragraph : — 

‘¢The Girls’ School at Kemendine has also been 
maintained with increasing efficiency under the super- 
intendence of Miss Gage.” 


When Mrs. Bennett and Mrs. Douglass, of Bassein, 
returned from America in November, 1872, Miss Gage 
had nine girls in her care, boarding in the ,preacher’s 
family. She had asked that Mrs. Douglass might join 
her in this work. The Woman’s Baptist Foreign Mis- 
sionary Society built a house for them, and in May, 
1873, they and the girls took possession, They were 
now able to receive more girls. It is worthy of men- 
tion that Mah Mee, the first girl received by Miss 
Gage, remained in this school as pupil and teacher for 
twenty-one years, proving a faithful helper, and left 
only to become a _ Bible-woman in another town. 
Seven of the first nine girls were Christians. 

The next two years the average number of boarders 
was eighteen. In May, 1874, the boarding depart- 
ment dissolved its connection with the day school. 
The bank of the river had fallen away rapidly, and 
the house was unsafe; the boarders therefore removed 
to a house left vacant by Dr. Stevens. A new and 
better location was secured, through the generous gift, 
by Mr. Bennett, of ten thousand rupees, with which 
to build a permanent and convenient schogl-house. 
In June, 1875, the new school building was dedicated. 
The English government granted one thousand rupees 
for furnishing the building, and made a yearly grant- 
in-aid of one thousand eight hundred rupees. 

This year there was a movement towards self-sup- 
port. The pupils were required to buy, first their own 
slate pencils, then their paper and slates. Parents, 
except in extreme poverty, were induced to clothe 
their children. The school numbered one hundred 
and five. Forty had been baptized, and others gave 
evidence of conversion. One half of the girls came 
from heathen families, and as many of the conversions 
were from the heathen families as from the Christian 
families. Miss Gage says at this period, ‘‘ We are 
assured that the influence of their religious training 
has been felt not only in their homes but in their vil- 
lages. It has been our aim to teach the way of life 
and to develop Christian character far more than it has 


3 


been to make great advancement in secular studies. 
The teaching of the Bible has not been made secondary 
to anything else. The Christian girls have manifested 
a steadiness of purpose, a growth in grace, an effort 
to labor now for Christ, which fills us with hope for the 
future.” 

Miss Gage, whose health was impaired by eleven 
years’ toil in Burma, returned to America in July, 1877. 

Mrs. Douglass was assisted by Miss Payne and then 
by Mrs. Bailey, until Miss L. E. Rathbun arrived, 
Dec. 5, 1877. Four native helpers were employed. 

March 30, 1880, Mrs. Douglass was obliged to leave 
for home. Miss Rathbun was aided by Miss Barrows 
until Miss A. L. Buell came in December, 1880. 

Miss Rathbun writes: ‘* The girls who desire baptism 
have voluntarily formed the plan of coming to my room 
late in the evening to talk about Christian living. 
There are usually twenty or thirty present. Sixty of 
our girls have Christian parents, forty are from 
heathen families, and forty are professing Christians. 
Sixteen pupils are motherless, fourteen others are 
fatherless, and in thirteen cases the father and mother 
do not live together. We cannot, therefore, expect 
much money from them.” 

In 1881 Miss Rathbun writes: ‘‘ The influence of 
all our older pupils is on the side of Christianity. Of 
the six grades into which our school is divided, the 
highest grade are all Christians; in the next grade, all 
but one small girl are either Christians or seeking to 
become so; the same, with two exceptions, is true of 
the next lower grade.” 

Dec. 5, 1881, Miss Buell was married to Rev. Mr. 
Roberts, of Bhamo. 

In May, 1882, a normal class was opened. The 
English government furnished the teacher, supplied 
text-books and paid a monthly stipend of two rupees 
to each member of the class. A government grant 
was also made to the school of forty rupees for lower, 
and sixty rupees for the higher grade, for each pupil 
who should obtain a certificate of qualification. 


4 


Mrs. Douglass returned to Kemendine in November, 
1882, as a fully qualified physician, and her medical 
skill was invaluable to the school. 

Miss Rathbun soon had to return to America, and 
Miss E. F. McAllister was transferred from the 
Bassein Karen school to the Kemendine school. 

In November, 1883, Miss Gage returned and writes 
of improvement. ‘The school numbered one hundred 
and forty-six boarders and a few day pupils. The 
teachers’ places were all filled by former scholars. 
She says: ‘‘ I am rejoiced to find that many of those 
who professed Christianity are honoring it in their 
daily lives, and are making their homes centres of 
Christian influence. One young couple, married during 
my absence, have read the whole Bible through once 
and nearly through a second time at their daily 
worship.”’ 

Four girls were that year married from the school. 
Three were Christians and married Christian men. 
Five Christian girls left to engage in teaching. 

In March, 1884, the Board appropriated seven thou- 
sand rupees for the enlargement of the school building. 

In 1884 Miss Gage’s health failed completely, and 
she left Burma for the last time. 

Miss Stark helped during the winter, and in March 
Miss L. B. Clarke and Miss Mary E. Williams arrived. 
Miss McAllister left for America, and Miss Stark 
removed to Toungoo. 

The school numbered one hundred and _ ninety-five 
pupils, and fifty-three of the oldest girls were Christians. 

This year Mrs. Douglass erected, largely at her own 
expense, a hospital annex to the school building. It 
contained an office for herself, a room for missionaries 
who needed care, and a room for sick girls. Besides 
her teaching and general care for the scholars, Dr. 
Douglass was gaining an increasing outside practice 
among natives. The following year fourteen girls were 
baptized, and the man employed as teacher of the 
normal class. He was converted through the reading 
of the Bible while teaching a lady the Burmese lan- 


4) 


guage, and endured persecution and desertion by his 
wife for Christ’s sake. 

In 1886 Miss Clarke became Mrs. Case and went 
to Toungoo. Miss McAllister returned in December. 
Six Christian girls from the normal class became 
teachers. 

Early in 1887 Dr. Douglass removed to take charge 
of the government medical work sustained by the 
Countess of Dufferin. Her presence was greatly 
missed, and the care of the sick came upon Miss 
Williams. 

The year 1888 showed marked improvement in self- 
support. Sewing had always been skilfully and profit- 
ably taught. Under Miss Williams’ care the girls did 


all the school sewing 


g, and had, in four years, earned a 


piano, an organ, and two sewing machines by the sale 
of their needlework. 

Rs. 1049 were received in fees for board and tuition. 
Miss McAllister writes : ‘*‘ Our numbers might be greatly 
increased if we would omit the Bible study. Heathen 
parents object to that because, although the pupils may 
not all become Christians, they do lose faith in their 
idols.” 

1889 was marked by severe sickness in school. 
Miss McAllister and Miss Williams, broken down by 
the unusually heavy burdens, left in November, 1890. 
There was no one to take charge, and Miss Phinney 
was obliged to add this care to her literary labors. In 
1891 she was taken 111. Miss Stark came to her relief 
until the arrival of Miss Lenna Smith, who soon became 
Mrs. F. D. Phinney. Miss McAuister and Miss Wil- 
liams hastened back to their loved work, Oct. 18, 1891. 

The Christian girls had heretofore been received into 
the Burman church at Lamadaw, but now a church 
of thirty-one members was organized in the school. 
The pastor’s salary was raised by the school. 

In November, 1892, the government required the 
opening of a kindergarten department, which was 
started by Miss Fredrickson. This department will 
be the subject of another paper. 


6 


In July, 1894, Miss Williams, who had rendered 
most efficient service for nine years, became the wife 
of Rev. Mr. Burhoe. Miss McAllister mourns her 
departure, but writes of the work as follows: ‘* In 
March twenty-five of our pupils were baptized. During 
the year a Christian Endeavor Society has been formed. 
Nineteen pupils will take the teachers’ test examina- 
tions. A large number of our graduates are teaching 
in other mission schools, and most of them give satis- 
faction. We have now one hundred and sixty-three 
pupils. Since Miss Williams went away, Dr. Céte 
has taken medical charge of the school.” 

In 1896-97 Miss E. L. Chapman and Miss J. G. 
Craft joined the school. Miss McAllister, who had 
been connected with the school since 1881, withdrew 
to engage in evangelistic work. For nearly sixteen 
years the religious, educational, and financial success 
of the school was largely due to her labors and execu- 
tive ability. Mah Mee, for twenty-one years a pupil 
and teacher there, accompanied her as a Bible-woman. 

Miss Emily Hanna went to the kindergarten depart- 
ment in 1898, and in 1899 Miss Julia Shinn joined 
the workers. 

If we should visit the Kemendine school in this the 
year 1900, we would find it in the heart of a thickly 
populated heathen village, three and a half miles from 
Rangoon City. The compound comprises eight acres 
of land. ‘Two large buildings are devoted to school 
and dormitory uses. The ladies’ house is between 
these two buildings, and is connected with the big 
dormitory by a narrow enclosed passage and a short 
flight of stairs. There are, in the rear, the servants’ 
quarters, cook houses, bath houses, and the native 
pastor’s house. There are now seventy boarding pupils 
and thirty-five day scholars. Eight young women 
teachers, all graduates of the school, and the normal 
teacher, a devout Christian man, are employed. They 
all possess elements of strength and beauty of char- 
acter. 

_ The Sunday services are as follows: Bible school, 


€ 


7.30 A. mM.; church service, 10.30 a. m. and 3.30 
p.M.; street meeting, 5.30 p.m. On the first Sunday 
evening of each month is held the covenant meeting, 
and every disciple is expected to speak; this is fol- 
lowed by preaching and the Lord’s Supper. Sunday 
evenings the teachers conduct a prayer-meeting with 
the girls; Wednesday evening is the weekly prayer- 
meeting, and alteruating Fridays gospel temperance 
meetings are held. School is always opened with 
chapel worship. 

Many instances might be given of graduates who 
are making Christian homes, successfully teaching, or 
working as Bible-women, and some have proved heroic 
in self-denial and consecration to the cause of Christ. 

This sketch would not be complete without a tribute 
to the Rev. A. T. Rose, D. D., who from its incep- 
tion until the day of his death, 1896, was the staunch 
friend, wise counsellor, and faithful missionary pastor 
to the Kemendine school. 


A DAY'S PROGRAMME AT KEMENDINE. 
JULIA G. CRAFT. 


5.30. Rising bell. Six o’clock one teacher goes to buy 
the food for the day. 

5.50. Work bell. Manual labor for one hour; sweeping 
of all buildings, ete. 

6.50. ‘I'en minutes to clean hands and make tidy. 

7.00. First school session, — one hour. 

8.00. Recess. Bazaar selling, — books, paper, pencils, 
etc. 

8.30. School breakfast and dish washing. [After break- 
fast one teacher comes to assist me at the dispen- 
sary. ] 

9.30. Chapel worship. 

9.45. Recitation. 

10.30. Drill with small children. 
10.45. Recitation. 

11.30. Drill with larger girls. 
11.45. Recitation. 

12.30. Noon recess. 


PR. M. 
1.15. Bible classes. 
2.00 to 3.30. Recitations. 


3.30. Sewing school. 

4.20. Prayer, singing; dismissal at 4.30. 

4.45. Dinner and dish washing. 

5.30. Play. 

6.30. Study. 

7.45. First bell for children to retire; 8.00, in bed. 
8.15. First bell for older girls to retire. 

8.30. All lights out. 


On Saturday mornings all our girls turn out for 
about two hours’ work about the place, — pulling 
weeds, raking leaves, washing school pillow-cases, ete., 
etc. And when this is done and breakfast over, all 
our normal girls (over tnirty) are required, because 
cf government, to have a half day’s school session. 
This on Saturday. So you will observe the days are 
very fully occupied. This is but the regular order of 
daily life at Kemendine, but does not convey any idea 
of all the extra odd jobs that must be crowded in, — 
petty repairs, renewals, errands, preparations for sewing 
school, sickness now and then, oversight of the dor- 
mitory and school, housekeeping, tonic sol-fa classes 
sprinkled through the day, wherever Miss Hanna can 
seize a clear fifteen minutes to drill the girls, all these 
buildings to be looked after, accounts, government 
correspondence, and mnumerable other things, each 
one requiring a certain amount of attention, to say 
nothing of trying to study the language. 


(t=) 


KINDERGARTENS IN RANGOON. 
MISS EMILY HANNA. 


At present the kindergarten in the Kemendine school 
has an enrolment of twenty-five with two teachers. 
The kindergarten room is in the main school building, 
large, and well equipped with chairs and tables and 
with a very fair apparatus. The children are mostly 
Burmese, with one or two of other races. The propor- 
tion of boys is very small, possibly because it is known 
to be in a girls’ boarding school. The kindergarten in 
connection with the Baptist College, Rangoon, has 
recently been moved from the building in which it was 
very inconveniently placed along with the lower stan- 
dards to the first floor of a small building used for the 
boys’ boarding department, so that in the daytime the 
kindergarten is quite by itself. The two rooms are 
small but very compactly arranged. The walls are 
painted white, making a good background for all the 
bright colored ‘‘inventions’” of the children. The 
natural wood walls at Kemendine are even more restful 
to the eye. The attendance at the college kindergarten 
is about thirty, and the differing races of Burma are 
more fully represented than at Kemendine, also the 
boys are much more in evidence. Each of these kin- 
dergartens has two very fair kindergartners. 

But the mention of this brings us to the great lack 
of the kindergartens of Burma, — good, thoroughly 
trained teachers. We have government approval. 
The educational ‘‘ powers that be” are exceedingly 
anxious to introduce kindergartens into their lay 
schools. They recognize the exceeding value of Fro- 
bel’s principles in preparation for general teaching, 
and insist that not only the girls in normal schools but 
the boys training to be teachers and managers shall 
have instruction in the theory of kindergarten. One 
of the officials high in authority has put himself on 
record by saying that the brightest girls are kinder- 


10 


garten teachers. ‘It seems to wake the whole girl 
up.” Not only does the government give this encourge- 
ment, but it gives liberal grants of money to kinder- 
gartens under its supervision. The missionaries, too, 
are coming to a very cordial appreciation of the help 
that a kindergarten in connection with their mission 
station gives. In the first place, as is not always 
understood, the kindergarten is primarily and finally 
a religious institution, in the respect that its object is 
to bring human beings into harmony with God. As 
Miss Dyer said to an English inspector, —I fancy to 
his inward disgust, —‘‘If you leave religion out of 
the kindergarten you leave the kindergarten out.” 

In the second place, so far as is possible under 
existing circumstances, all the work and play and 
instruction, by means of stories and talks, are based 
on the Bible. Bible stories are what the children never 
tire of, what the teachers tell most dramatically, and 
are most effective weapons against idolatry and super- 
stition. Story after story can be brought to bear on 
the evil of worshipping idols. The little talks on 
nature and science, unostentatiously introduced, uncon- 
sciously fortify the child’s mind against the ignorant 
and superstitious legends of his forefathers. That 
this is so and that the Buddhists recognize the danger 
threatening their religion and institutions, is proved 
over and oyer by angry parents who come to take their 
children away from such pernicious influences, and by 
the reports circulated by admiring relatives as to the 
cleverness of children who repeat the religious teaching 
they have imbibed in the kindergarten, 

Missionaries and government officers alike recognize 
that the kindergarten is ‘* good for what ails” Burmese 
children, in the way of teaching obedience, — much 
neglected among Burmese parents, — power of original 
thinking, and neatness and accuracy, to say nothing 
of many other cardinal virtues. But there is a erying 
need of teachers who really understand the theory and 
principles of kindergarten work. The Burman is 
imitative, and very clever with his fingers; and the 


1 § 


danger is that girls who have this mechanical ability 
will be hurried into pioneer positions before they grasp 
the deep principles underlying true teaching. As it 
is, in some of the normal schools the girls who have 
had some kindergarten training are so broadened and 
improved in a general way that they are eagerly sought 
as teachers in regular schools. Miss Dyer has achieved 
a notable triumph in graduating a class of kindergarten 
teachers who, most of them, already possessed teaching 
certificates and were experienced as teachers. The 
hope is to graduate a class of the same character from 
Kemendine school next year, 

One thing is very certain, —if the missionaries who 
are kindergartners do not eagerly take this opportu- 
nity so temptingly held out to them for capturing girls 
eager to study to be kindergarten teachers, and training 
them to be Bible students, to be imbued with the Christ 
spirit in their teaching; to carry the Gospel imbedded 
in their work with them into their jungle and heathen 
town schools, the government will take away this talent 
from us who have not used it, and give it toa man who 
knew not Joseph, nor Joseph’s greater Master, 

Along with the need for trained kindergarten teachers 
is the need of a kindergarten literature. A  kinder- 
garten manual or text-book for the use of Burmese 
girls in studying Frébel’s system, is called for and is 
to be authorized as a regular school text-book by the 
government, although published by the Mission Press. 
The two kindergarten superintendents at Moulmein and 
Kemendine have been given carte blanche in the prepara- 
tion of this book, 

These are the beginnings of kindergarten in Burma, 
It will be seen that like the young robin, classic in 
kindergarten literature, who is almost all mouth, the 
needs and demands are far greater than the ability to 
fill them. But all things come not to ‘** him who waits,” 
in this lethargic East, but to him who rouses and does 
the thing at hand with all his might, trusting in the 
Guiding Power who has brought him thus far to carry 
him on to a successful end. 


HISTORY OF THE PEGU HIGH SCHOOL, 
RANGOON, BURMA. 


MRS. CALISTA VINTON LUTHER, M. D. 


The Pegu High School was the outgrowth of the 
great revival which followed closely upon the occu- 
pancy of Burma by the British in 1842. 

The results of this occupation were, first, the free- 
dom of the Karens throughout lower Burma from 
virtual slavery; second, their free access to the cities, 
a thing which had been denied them by Burmese law, 
and the placing them, for the first time in history, on 
an equality with their former Burmese masters. 

The Karens being a people not only without educa- 
tion, but without written language, had, of course, not 
had schools cf any kind whatsoever. 

Hence, for the mere purpose of reading God’s word, 
it was necessary that they should have instruction. 
The first sessions of this school were held in the dilap- 
idated old monastery within the Rangoon fort where 
Mr. and Mrs. Vinton lived for the first year after the 
taking of the city by the English. The pupils were 
the refugees who had fled from the advancing Burmese 
army, and who came to Mr. Vinton for protection. 

They had brought with them their sick and their 
wounded, and after occupying all the available space 
which he could give them within the fort, the remain- 
ing hundreds camped out in the neighborhood, where 
they could be under the protection of English guns, 
and be fed and cared for by Mr. and Mrs. Vinton. 

During this rainy season all that were well and 
were not needed to minister to the suffering and dying 
were gathered in the largest room of the monastery 
and taught to read. It was a unique and pathetic 
sight that greeted Mrs. Vinton each morning as she 
opened the session with reading and prayer —old men 
and women, for whom spectacles had to be purchased, 
eagerly striving to master the alphabet in the hope of 
































REV. AND MRS. SUMNER R. VINTON, RANGOON, BURMA, 
Who sailed for Rengoon, August, 1900. 





























13 


reading God’s word before they died —fathers and 
sons; mothers and little children sitting on the same 
bench and learning not only to read, but also to sing, 
the grand old hymns which have for generations’ been 
precious to the Christian church, and which Mrs. Vin- 
ton had translated into their poetical language. Two 
hundred and fifty learned to read during that rainy 
season who could not read before, and over thirty 
young men received biblical training preparatory to 
laboring in the distant villages, some as preachers and 
some as school teachers. 

So soon as the country was settled enough to admit 
of the Vintons moving out to Kemendine, which was 
to be the permanent home of the mission, arrange- 
ments*were made for the erection of suitable buildings, 
and with the self-forgetfulness characteristic of Mr. 
Vinton, he put up first the boarding house for the 
future school and, with his family, lived in one end 
until the large school-house was ready, when he moved 
into one corner of that, partitioning it-off with curtains 
of blue cotton cloth which they were in the habit of 
using when travelling in the jungle. Lastly, his own 
house was erected. Mrs. Vinton had brought with 
her from Moulmein two girls who had been trained by 
Miss Miranda Vinton in the normal school, Eliza and 
Fidelia, who, with their husbands, Thah Mway and Nyo 
Poh, gave most faithful service as teachers in the earlier 
years of the school. 

Plans were laid very wisely and with far-seeing 
judgment. As soon as was practicable a system of 
village schools was established, which became feeders 
to the central school. From the central school, in 
turn, went out the teachers and preachers who continu- 
ally enlarged the field brought under Christian influence. 

The primal idea in all Mrs. Vinton’s schools was, 
first, the conversion of every scholar, and, second, the 
training of these scholars for bringing others to Christ. 

Their education was looked upon as simply a means 
to this end, and Mrs. Vinton frequently said that if 
she should know of any scholar who should not so 


14 


employ his ability, she would exclude him from the 
school. 

The school became at once popular, and by the year 
1855 had become very successful. During the rains, 
when travelling was impossible, Mr. Vinton conducted 
the theological class, no theological seminary haying 
been yet established in the Pegu provinces. 

The school has always been largely supported by the 
Karens themselves. 

For a number of years the English government con- 
tributed an equal amount to that raised by the Karens. 

This work was not without opposition, being at the 
first, and for some years, entirely misunderstood in 


America, but the results have more than justified the - 


wisdom of the policy pursued by the Vintons. 

In March, 1858, Mr. Vinton died. No missionary 
took his place, and Mrs. Vinton conducted both the 
school and the mission alone, her son and daughter 
being in America at school. Had it not been for the 
corps of native assistants trained in this school, the 
work would have suffered severely, but as it was 
there was not even a break in the prosperity of the 
mission. Directed by Mrs. Vinton, the native preachers 
and teachers went on with the work, and not only held 
the native churches together, but vastly increased their 
number and efficiency until the son and daughter came 
out to take up the work their father had laid down. 

In the year 1859 Miss Calista Vinton returned to 
Burma, and was from that -time associated with her 
mother in the school, thus giving Mrs. Vinton more 
time for travelling among the churches. In 1864 
Miss Vinton was married to Rey. R. M. Luther, and 
Mrs. Vinton gave up the charge of the school into 
their hands, intending to devote herself entirely to work 
among the churches. 

God, however, had other plans for her, and in 
December of that year she entered into rest. 

Mr. and Mrs. Luther remained in charge of the 
school until 1870, not being supported by any mis- 
sionary society. They contributed largely of their 


15 


own means for the support of the school, relinquish- 
ing the grant-in-aid because of the embarrassments 
which it caused. ‘The theological department was con- 
ducted by Mr. Luther, some twenty-three young men 
going forth into the ministry, many of whom are still 
laboring there with success. 

During all this period the history of the school was 
marked by the constant conversion of the scholars, 
while the work done by the teachers and preachers who 
went out from it was of no common kind. As the 
earlier assistants died or went into other work, their 
places were filled by the graduates of the school. 
From the day of its founding it seems to have found 
favor both with God and man. The English residents 
of Rangoon contributed many thousands of rupees to 
its support. 

In 1870 both Mr. and Mrs. Luther were forced by 
failing health to return to America. The school then 
passed into the hands of Mrs. Luther’s brother, Rev. 
J. B. Vinton. Since his death it has been conducted 
by Mrs. Vinton, assisted by Rev. Mr. and Mrs. Sea- 
grave, Mr. Herbert Vinton and Miss Magrath. It 
numbers about two hundred pupils. The establish- 
ment of the Baptist College and the Government Col- 
lege of Rangoon have made it advisable, in recent 
years, to discontinue the higher grade studies. 

Owing to the great increase in the number and efii- 
ciency of the village schools, attendance on the city 
school has been wisely restricted. 

The Rangoon Karen Theological Seminary affords 
the necessary training for the young preachers of the 
district. 

When Mr. and Mrs. Luther took charge of the 
school in 1864 it was moved from the old school build- 
ing, which had become inadequate, into Frank’s Chapel, 
where it remained until three years ago, when the 
southern wing of the Vinton Memorial Building was 
opened, and it has since been accommodated there. 
The girls have numbered from one fourth to one third 
of the pupils. 


THE SCHOOL AT THONGZE. 
MISS KATE EVANS. 


To write a sketch of the Burmese girls’ school at 
Thongze I shall have to go back to the time when it was 
not a girls’ school, and long before its connection with 
the Woman’s Society. Even then I cannot make it 
very complete, as the destruction of the mission house 
by fire, twice, has deprived us of the old records to 
which I could otherwise refer. In 1858, after having 
made one or more short visits to the place, Mrs. 
Ingalls sent a Burman man to open a school. He 
could only read and write, and the highest study was 
a small tract on geography. The school was held 
under a tree, a mat roof being put up in the spreading 
branches, which were infested with paddy birds (a 
species of heron) which were very troublesome. ‘There 
were no walls, and the exercises were varied by 
frantic rushes to drive out buffaloes, pigs, and pariah 
dogs. 

The school from the first, though in a purely heathen 
community, was opened with reading of the Scriptures 
and prayer, and singing by the old man, who, how- 
ever, did not know one metre from another; and a 
Sunday school was regularly held. 

He held the fort as best he could until Mrs. Ingalls 
came in 1859, when she took charge of it. At that 
time there was not, so far as she knew, a single 
woman in the district who could read, though some 
had gone through the spelling book in their childhood. 
It was not a popular thing for girls to know how to 
read, as it put them on an equality with their fathers 
and brothers, and would possibly interfere with their - 
matrimonial prospects; but, in spite of this prejudice, 
the sewing class, with English scissors and needles, 
which were quite new to them, proved such an attrac- 
tion that there were more girls than boys in the school ; 
the boys being in the monastery schools. 


ig 


Mrs. Ingalls had sole charge of the school until on her 
return from America after her second trip home. Miss 
Adams came with her to assist in the school work, 
and, introducing the study of English, brought in a 
large number of half-grown Burman boys. It then 
became a mixed Anglo-vernacular school with a large 
proportion of boys. She remained for a few years and 
then removed to Henzada. 

Tn the interval between her remoyal and my arrival, 
Miss Le Feyre was here a short time. In 1871 the 
Woman’s Society was formed, and under its auspices I 
came to Burma, reaching Rangoon Feb. 25, 1872, and 
Thonzge March 12 of the same year. I found Mrs. 
Ingalls overburdened with work, haying the general 
work and the oversight of a large mixed school. 

As the years went on and both departments of the 
work increased, it seemed best to divide, Mrs. Ingalls 
retaining charge of the general work and I of the 
school, freeing her from all care connected with it. 
This was done in 1877, and the Woman’s Society then 
assumed the support of the school. There was nothiug 
in the way of school furniture or apparatus, with the 
exception of Jong, low benches, behind which the pu- 
pils sat on mats, a long rough table, and some rough 
blackboards. The only text-books in Burmese were 
Stilson’s arithmetic and Hough’s geography, lessons 
onall other subjects being prepared by the missionaries 
and their native helpers, and copied by the children ; 
yery different from the present time when the country 
is flooded with text-books. 

In 1882 I was compelled to return to America and 
Miss Elwin came to take my place, remaining until 
my return in 1883. On her arrival she put into exe- 
cution the plan previously formed, of having the school 
registered under government as a grant-in-aid school. 
On my return she removed to Prome. At that time, on 
many accounts, it seemed desirable to have a purely 
girls’ school. Many of the parents seriously objected 
to sending their girls to school with the boys, and 
there were a number of boys’ schools in the vicinity, 


18 


but none for girls. So, in May, 1884, when the school 
was reopened, only girls were admitted, with the ex- 
ception of a limited number of very small boys from 
Christian families in the village. 

The school remained under grant-in-aid rules until 
1888, when, feeling convinced that this was not desir- 
able for a girls’ day school in the jungle, it was with- 
drawn and became a purely mission school (as it is 
to the present day). Up to this time a male teacher 
was employed as head teacher, but from that year only 
female teachers have been employed — mostly certifi- 
cated girls from Kemendine and Moulmein, a number 
of whom had been pupils in this school. 

In 1891 it again became necessary for me to return 
to America, and Mrs. Ingalls returning from home that 
year was accompanied by Miss Batterson who was 
sent to relieve me; she, however, only remained a few 
months. In 1892 I left for America, leaving Mrs. 
Ingalls alone with the school work on her hands, I 
was forced to remain in America much longer than I 
had intended, and in 1893 Mrs. Crawley came to Mrs. 
Ingalls’ help, and took charge of the school cane a 
short time before my return in 1894. 

The girls’ school has grown from about forty to its 
present number, eighty, which has to be its limit with 
the teaching staff available. In 1896, for the first 
time in its history, the school was graded, and teaches 
to the sixth standard, though not the full curriculum, as 
this did not seem to be necessary. In this place it 
seems to be more desirable to give a good deal of time 
to sewing and fancy work, and the teachers could not 
possibly find time for this in addition to the full course. 
A fourth teacher is greatly needed. With a larger 
staff the school could soon exceed a hundred, as pupils 
are being rejected frequently from simple inability to 
do justice to them. 

In 1886 a new building was put up, to be used, as 
the old one had been, for both chapel and school pur- 
poses. When completed it was supplied with good 
desks, blackboards, ete., a great improvement on the 


19 


old building with its low benches, which, however, did 
good service in their time. Although this ranks as a 
day school, we always have a few boarders in the 
house. As a rule these girls are from Christian fami- 
lies living too far away to send them as day pupils. 
The number of these boarders varies; I think we have 
never had more than ten or less than three at one - 
time, the latter being the present number. 

As long as this was a mixed Anglo-vernacular school, 
fees were taken, and an effort was made to continue 
the fee system when it became a purely vernacular girls’ 
school; but it became evident that, in order to give 
a chance of education to the many very poor children in 
the vicinity, it would be necessary to go back to the free 
school plan. After this had been-done, howeyer, still 
another effort was made to introduce fees, with another 
failure. The chief ain of this school is to give a 
plain, useful education to those children whose parents 
cannot afford to send them away to the more expensive 
boarding-schools, and to gather in for Christian instruc- 
tion these little ones, who would otherwise grow up in 
heathenism. As nearly all of the children are from 
heathen families, the number of baptisms has been 
small. A part of each day is given to Bible study, 
and the Sunday school is well attended, a majority 
attending regularly, though attendance is not compul- 
sory. Four young girls from the school were baptized 
recently, one of them from a heathen family. 

Of course, in a day school, as strong a religious 
influence cannot be exerted over them as in the board- 
ing-schools where the pupils are shut away from home 
influences and surrounded by a religious atmosphere 
all the time. Still, there must be day schools, and, 
while the results are not as conspicuous as in board- 
ing-schools, we have reason to believe that they fill an 
important place in mission economy. i 


20 


THE PROME MISSION SCHOOL. 
REV. E. 0. STEVENS. 


Eugenio Kincaid, D. D., with his family, arrived at 
Prome in January, 1854, shortly after the town had 
been taken by the troops of the East India Company. 
Through the kindness of Col. (afterwards brevet 
Major-General) Sir A. P. Phayre, Chief Commissioner 
of British Burma, a beautiful site was secured for the 
mission on the east bank of the noble Irrawaddy River. 
Atacheap rate Dr. Kincaid purchased some deserted 
monastic buildings, which, though quite dilapidated, 
contained much well-seasoned teak timber. With the 
materials thus obtained he constructed not only a 
dwelling for himself, but also a rude zayat with a roof 
of thatch grass. After the burning down of three 
chapels, one after the other, in the centre of the town, 
this humble structure on the mission compound served 
as a meeting-house as well as a school-house until 
the latter part of 1870, when the brick chapel had 
progressed so far towards completion that it could be 
used for public worship. This school-house was not 
demolished until after the erection of the new building 
on the same compound in 1878. 

Dr. Kinecaid’s head boatman, Ko Shwé-lan, became 
hopefully converted, and soon after his baptism he was 
set to teaching a small primary vernacular school. 
Maung Shwe-lan appears to have been the first school- 
master employed in the Prome mission. Gradually a 
division of labor was effected. While Doctor Kineaid 
made extensive evangelistic tours, and had the general 
oversight of the churches and the preachers, Rey. 
Thomas Simons had the care of the town school. This 
arrangement was continued until 1865, when, on 
account of the infirmities of age, Doctor Kineaid 
retired, and with his family returned to the United 
States. Mr. Simons was thus left in sole charge of 
the Prome station until the arrival of Rey. and Mrs, 
E. O. Stevens, Noy. 25, 1866. 

















THE MISSION Al PROME, BURMA, 





* v 


21 


In those early days, Mrs. Kincaid and Mr. Simons 
took special interest in the case of Maung Bawa, who 
proved to be a Christian boy of unusual promise. 
From Prome he went to the government school at 
Rangoon, while it was under the charge of Rey. A. T. 
Rose. He afterwards became judge of the Small Cause 
Court, and for many years he has been drawing a 
government pension in Rangoon. Among those who 
came to town in order to learn to read Burmese was 
Aung-ban, a Karen young man from the Tharrawaddy 
district. Now a gray-haired minister of the gospel, 
he recalls with devout gratitude the exhortations and 
instructions from the lips of Mrs. Simons, which led 
him in his youth to consecrate himself to the service of 
Christ. 

In May, 1866, the British government established 
an Anglo-vernacular boys’ school at Prome. The 
nucleus of this was a colony composed of the most 
advanced pupils from the mission school. Their pro- 
ficiency in the use of the English language showed how 
well they had been drilled by Mr. Simons in pronun- 
ciation and articulation. The boy at the head of this 
class afterwards became a deputy inspector of 
schools, and is now head master of the Burmese mis- 
sion school at Bassein, under the superintendence of 
Rey. E. Tribolet. : 

In 1867 Mr. Simons’ assistant teacher was Maung 
Shwé-men, who had received his education at the 
Anglo-yernacular mission school in Moulmein. After 
his dismissal the Prome mission school was taught 
first by Maung Htin-aung, and he was succeeded by 
Maung Shwé-gyaw (both from Moulmein). It be- 
came, however, exceedingly difficult to compete suc- 
cessfully with the Prome government school, until 
Maung Hpob-maung, the first assistant master, 
resigned. From the time he accepted mission employ, 
for two years the mission boys’ school had great 
prosperity, as to numbers and the attainments of the 
pupils, but after his reappointment to government 
service the school began to run down again. Maung 


no 
bo 


Hpoh-Maung was a Baptist who had received his Chris- 
tian training at a mission school in Caleutta. He was 
subsequently promoted to be deputy inspector of schools. 

Mrs. Simons returned home the second time in the 
spring of 1873. In company with her went Miss 
Jane Simons, who, during her brief sojourn in Burma, 
had manifested much interest in school work, and 
endeared herself greatly to the native Christians of 
Prome. Her father died of cholera, Feb. 19, 1876. 
At the time of his death Ma Shwe-ong was teaching a 
school, whose origin may be traced to 1867. At this 
last-mentioned date Mrs. Stevens gathered a little 
girls’ school ina thatched hut on the mission premises, 
and hired Ma Pwin (Bwen), a young married woman 
from Thongze, to be their teacher. Mrs. Stevens her- 
self gave instruction in English, in arithmetic, in needle- 
work, in the catechism, and in the singing of Christian 
hymns. Ma Pwin was suceeded by Ma Na Ma No, 
by Ma Nhin-dan, and Ma Nhin-dan by the Ma Shweé- 
ong just referred to. Ma Shwé-dng was one of the 
Prome girls who finished their studies in the Morton 
Lane girls’ school at Moulmein, and thus fitted them- 
selyes to teach school on their return. She was the 
eldest daughter of the first Bible-woman employed in 
the Prome mission, After her mother’s death she 
married Maung Tha-din, a Burmese gentleman, who 
holds the position of extra assistant commissioner. 

At the expiration of their first furlough, Mr. and 
Mrs. Stevens reached Prome Dec. 17, 1877. They 
were accompanied by Miss Clarissa Bromley, who, as 
soon as she became sufliciently acquainted with the 
language, assisted Mrs. Stevens materially in the care 
of the school. In the new building, the boys’ school 
and girls’ school were united. A few boarders were 
admitted from places out of town, but nothing was 
attempted on a large scale, because the native Chris- 
tians were not disposed to do much more for the schools 
than to pay the tuition fees which were demanded of 
their children. A part of the time the mission was 
favored with the services of Maung Aung-dék, a 


23 


Christian vernacular school-master, who, having taken 
his preparatory course at the mission village school at 
Euma, had graduated at the government normal school. 
This man’s salary was paid by the Department of 
Public Instruction. 

After two and a half years Miss Bromley broke 
down and went home to die in her native land. In 
1881 her place was filled by Miss Julia Elwin; but in 
about two years failing health made it necessary for 
her also to return to the United States. When Maung 
Aung-d6ok resigned his position, in order to start a 
school of his own in his native township, he was fol- 
lowed by Maung Ne-dtm, who was well qualified to 
teach, although he did not possess a teacher’s certifi- 
eate. Soon after the breaking out of the last war he 
resigned, and, as interpreter, in 1886 followed the 
British army which had just dethroned King Thibaw. 
Maung Neé-dtm’s successor was Ma Mi, holding a 
vernacular teacher’s certificate. She was granddaugh- 
ter of a man who, before the annexation of Pegu, had 
held the office of magistrate or collector under the King 
of Burma. 

In 1889 Mr. and Mrs. Stevens were designated to 
Moulmein. From the port of New York as far as 
Rangoon they had as fellow-passenger Miss Jane 
Stewart, who joined the Prome mission, which was 
then under the charge of Rey. H. H. Tilbe. At about 
that time the school was transferred to the brick chapel 
near the big bazaar, three quarters of a mile distant, 
and the school-house was fitted up for the residence of 
Miss Stewart and of Miss Z. A. Bunn, who removed 
from Moulmein to Prome. Ere long the failure of 
Miss Stewart’s health compelled her to. leave her loved 
work and take the long voyage back to America and 
Miss Bunn was placed in charge of Zigon. The head 
master for several years was a former pupil, — Maung 
Yawba (Job), the second son of the pastor U Yan- 
gen. Subsequently he resigned and went to Danubzt 
in the Henzada district, where he gave great satisfac- 
tion as the teacher of a Christian school. 


24 


In 1893 Rev. L. N. Mosier came down from Man- 
dalay to assume charge on account of the home-going 
of Mr. and Mrs. Tilbe. He brought the school back 
to the mission compound. In a few years Mr. and 
Mrs. Mosier were obliged to leave Prome without a 
resident missionary, and go to America in search of 
health and strength. In 1899, when they rejoined their 
appointment, they found that during their absence 
Maung Shwé-dim, Ma Yong, and Ma Thet-hpa had 
been doing extremely well as teachers in the school in 
which they had formerly been pupils. Ma Yong and 
Ma Thet-hpt, and some other Prome girls, obtained 
their teachers’ certificates in the Kemendine Burmese 
girls’ boarding-school. 

Before closing, a few words should be added with 
regard to the extra assistant commisssioner, to whom 
reference has just been made. Ko Tha-din was a 
Christian boy, who received his elementary training at 
mission schools in the town and district of Prome. 
He enjoyed the distinction of forming the first class at 
the beginning of the government High School in Ran- 

‘goon. Since he received a government appointment 
about twenty years ago, he has been rapidly promoted 
for his faithfulness in the discharge of his duties, for 
his probity, for his knowledge of law, and the excel- 
lence of his administrative abilities. 

Many other instances might be adduced in order to 
set forth the benefits arising from the maintenance of 
the Prome American Baptist Mission School, were it 
not that this paper has already exceeded its prescribed 
limits. 


25 


THE SCHOOL AT ZIGON. 
MRS. 0. L. GEORGE. 


Before Lower Burma was conquered by the English, 
and for many years after, the educational work of 
Burma was wholly in the hands of the Buddhist 
priests. Boys only, were taught to read. Therefore, 
the first effort of the missionary for the children of 
Burmans who had become Christians was to give them 
a school free from Buddhistic teachings. Every 
school in Burma began in this simple primary way. 
Out of these efforts have grown the various schools, 
colleges, and normal seminaries which are now our 
pride. The efforts of the Christian teacher were sup- 
plemented by government grants, and for the last 
thirty years government has spent much money in 
helping secular schools where the sciences are taught ; 
but doubtless the impulse and thought of government 
schools grew from the definite work accomplished by 
the American missionaries. 

The schools in Zigon district began in 1876. 
There had been an unusual ingathering of Burman 
converts. These babes in Christ needing a shepherd's 
care, Mr. George and family moved from Henzada to 
Zigon in the year 1576. Vague rumors of the won- 
derful Christian schools in other parts of the country 
had reached the ears of these new converts, and the 
first demand upon the missionary after he settled in 
Zigon was that he start a mission school. 

But the missionary had some very decided ideas on 
self-support and told the new disciples that he was 
delighted they wanted a school, and just as soon as 
they had put up a school-house and would promise the 
salary of the teacher he would see that they had a very 
excellent one. 

This heroic treatment was a great shock to their 
theories and hopes. They had dreamed of schools 


26 


fitted and furnished for them, with boarding privileges 
thrown iu. By tactful effort and wise encouragement 
they began to plan for themselves. The first school- 
house was a crude affair, a bamboo house with a grass 
roof, but the house was given and built by the new 
Christians. A few years later a teak school-house, 
which also served as a chapel, was erected. The funds 
for this building came from various sources — one half, 
a granr-in-aid from government, the balance from 
America and smal: gifts from the native Christians. 

It is agrave question with one of the founders of the 
school whether this new building was not a mistake. 
With if came a more pretentious staff of teachers. 
Fees, graded according to the studies, formed an im- 
portant part of income, but it was not, as in the past, 
owned and supported by the people. 

It has always been a co-education school. The aim 
from the first was to bring Christ into the life of every 
child who entered the school. After the first year 
dormitories for boys and girls were added. Self-sup- 
port has been kept before the people amid many dis- 
couraging circumstances. While following Burman 
customs as much as was possible in the boarding de- 
partment, cleanliness of garment and person was com- 
pulsory; housekeeping was taught, ideals of pure words 
and living ever kept before them. 

Since the death of Mr. George, ten years after the 
schoo! was opened, it has had careful oversight from 
Mr. and Mrs. Hancock, Miss Payne, Mr. and Mrs. 
Sutherland, Miss Bunn, Miss Barrows, and Miss Stark. 

Its sons occupy important offices under English 
government. Others have been teachers in the schools 
of Upper and Lower Burma. It has always been a 
light in a district famed ‘for bad men and ill deeds, and 
from its ranks have come our best church members. 


é- 


ho 
~I 


THE HENZADA BURMAN MISSION SCHOOL. 
REV. JOHN CUMMINGS. 


Coming up the main street of the town from the 
steamer landing and the bazaar, under a splendid 
arch of padauk trees, you reach its intersection at 
Court House Square, with Shining Gold Street just at 
the mission gate. The street is named Shining Gold, 
from an old pagoda on the river bank. Entering by 
the stile, along a road fringed with frangipanni trees, 
which drop their fragrant blossoms at your feet, you 
pass the boys’ dormitory on the right and come to the 
mission bungalow, half hidden in a grove of mango, 
cocoanut, and tamarind trees, in the centre of a spa- 
cious compound. Beyond the house is an iron-roofed 
building used as girls’ dormitory, teachers’ house, and 
vernacular school. To the front and left, connected 
with the bungalow by a covered walk leading diagonally 
from a corner of the veranda, is the combined chapel 
and school building. It is indeed a noble building, 
containing on the upper floor a chapel 70'x 30', with a 
memorial window, four class-rooms at the corners, 18 
x 18', a reading-room over the portico, 18’ x 18’, a large 
school-room below, the same size as the chapel, and 
four more class-rooms at the corners. It is most admi- 
rably adapted to its use. Side verandas connect the 
class-rooms with stairways leading up from the school- 
room below, thus giving ready access to the main 
rooms, and each class-room distinct, well lighted, and 
well ventilated. 

To Miss Phinney is due the credit of originating the 
fundamental idea of the design. Rev. Mr. Price 


- first worked it out in the Thomas Memorial at Henzada, 


then Mr. Bushell, adding some improvements, erected 
a similar building at Maubin; this is the third building 
of the kind, and Mr. Tribolet has erected a fourth at 
Bassein. It is a good type to perpetuate. This build- 
ing was erected in 1895. 


28 


The school is much older, in fact it dates back to the 
founding of the mission by Rev. and Mrs. Crawley, 
pioneer missionaries to the Burmans of Henzada (then 
called Henthada), in 1854. Its history is naturally 
divided into two periods: first, from 1854 to 1890, 
when it was a vernacular school, doing its work through 
the medium of the Burmese language, and was not 
under the inspection of government; second, from 
1890 to the present time, during which it has been an 
Anglo-vernacular seventh standard school, teaching 
English, and under the inspection of government. 
Overlapping the two periods is one of transition from 
one system to the other, when English was more and 
more taught and preparations were making for its 
present status. 

During the first period the school passed through 
many vicissitudes. It was established about the time 
of the visit of the deputation to Burma, which dis- 
countenanced school work for all but the children of 
Christians, which generally set back educational work 
in the province and lost to Baptists the monopoly of 
Western education which they had held up to that time. 

As there were few Burman Christians in that early 
day, and the children of heathen were nominally not 
eligible to the benefits of Christian nurture in a Chris- 
tian school, progress was slow. It would haye been 
slower yet had not some missionaries, wiser than the 
deputation, seen in mission schools an evangelizing 
agency for children, whether children of heathen or 
children vf Christians, as well as a means ‘of training 
those who had already begun the Christian life. This 
broader policy enabled the school to make a begin- 
ning. Its doors have always been open to any pupil, 
Christian or heathen, who would come under its 
training and submit to its discipline. It has carefully 
taught the Bible and maintained a strong missionary 
spirit from the beginning, and has continually raised 
the standard of the general education imparted. 

At first no fees were charged; everything was free. 
It was hard to get pupils even on those terms. Not 


29 


until 1885, under the management of Mr. Hascall, 
were fees charged. He began with the modest charge 
of two annas a month for Burmese and eight annas a 
month for English; but fees were collected with great. 
difficulty and seldom paid in full. The main difficulty, 
as I afterwards proved, was because the school had 
no government examinations, and could not properly 
accredit the pupil with his standing. Now monthly 
fees, ranging from Fs. 1 to fs. 2, according to stan- 
dards, are easily collected. The fees for the past 
year amount to over Rs. 1500, the total aid from 
government amounts to about Rs. 2000, which enables 
us, with the appropriation received from America, to 
maintain an able staff of seven native teachers and 
several jungle schools. 

In the absence of school records previous to my 
time, I am unable to determine exactly the sequence 
of missionaries in charge, or the length of their respec- 
tive terms of service, or who was in charge of the 
school when several missionaries were accredited to 
the station. I can only give the approximate order 
as remembered by the older Christians, which is as 
follows : — 

Rey. and Mrs. Crawley during cneir first term of 
service, save the last year when an exchange was 
effected with Rev. Mr. Douglass, of Bassein. Mr. 
Crawley returned to Burma from furlough in America 
without his wife, but went back for her after about 
four years’ service, and returned with her to Henzada. 
During his second term of service he was joined in 
the work by Rev. and Mrs. George, and Miss Rose 
Adams, who subsequently became Mrs. Bailey, went 
with the Georges to Zigon to open a new station, and 
eventually found her grave there. Later came Miss. 
Watson, now Mrs. Hancock, of Mandalay, and Miss. 
Payne. Mr. Crawley started home in broken health, 
and died before reaching Liverpool and was buried in 
that city. After he went away Miss Rose Adams 
Bailey and Miss Watson were in charge for a while. 
After Miss Watson married, Rev. and Mrs. Hancock 


30 


were in charge. Then came a long hiatus when no 
missionary was sent for many years, and the school 
languished and would have become extinet but for 
the fostering care of Mrs. C. B. Thomas, who was 
herself overwhelmed with Karen work, but who set 
Ma Nellie and Ma Kyin to work for the Burmans. 
The Hascalls came in 1882, and infused new life into 
the school; Miss Phinney in 1885; Rev. and Mrs. 
Cummings in 1887. 

The Crawleys and the Georges gave their strength 
to evangelization as became pioneers. The school 
first grew to considerable importance under the care of 
Miss Rose Adams, when a flourishing girls’ boarding- 
school was maintained in the compound, taught by 
herself and Ma Kyin, and a day school for boys on a 
well-chosen lot near the bazaar in the centre of the 
town. Both buildings were subsequently destroyed by 
fire, the latter in a general conflagration, and the former 
as the work of incendiaries in dacoit times, about 
1885; so that Mr. Hascall had practically to begin de 
novo. How much is lost in our mission from failure 
to maintain a continuous school policy and of keep- 
ing up foundations once established ! 

During the latter years of Mr. Hascall’s administra- 
tion, no Karen school was maintained at Henzada, and 
local Karen pupils joined the Burman school, swelling 
its numbers to about fifty. These withdrew on the 
opening of the Karen school in 1887, leaving us barely 
twenty-three pupils. When I came to study the school 
problem and its relation to mission work, I became 
convinced that more must be made of the school; that 
it must be made good enough to command the respect 
of heathen and Christian; that we could not afford to 
give our children an inferior education, or force them to 
go elsewhere to secure a knowledge of English. That 
instead of having the migration wholly from us to 
other schools, that it would be better missionary work 
to start the migration toward us, and that this would 
come if we only had government examinations which 
are made the condition of all public appointments. 


dl 


No pupil of parts would stay in a school in which he 
could not secure them. Consequently the pupils had 
been in the habit of leaving as soon as they could hope 
to pass an examination elsewhere, and the school 
occupied the humble position of a feeder for the 
S. P. G. and Municipal School, and could not hold its 
pupils long enough to train them. This was not good 
enough. Without the school, how could we hope for 
traised workers in the future ? 

This led to the registration of the school in 1890, 
and to the present period of its history. Pupils 
rapidly increased. Miss Squires came out to aid in 
the school work, the project of a new and suitable 
building was undertaken, and through the gloom and 
sorrow and shadow of death was nurtured to comple- 
tion, and the erection of our present building in 1893. 
Miss Squires had returned to America in 1892, leaving 
double work upon me. Mr. Reid was sent out to 
relieve mein 1894, when I went home broken in health. 
Mrs. Crawley and Miss Hopkins assisted in the work, 
and Miss J. V. Smith for a few months. 

On my return from furlough, in 1886, I found the 
school badly run down and requiring vigorous assist- 
ance. It has steadily grown for four years, and now 
numbers one hundred and twenty-five pupils. The 
total enrolment since 1890 has been five hundred and 
sixty-five pupils. As Dr. Burr once said of his church 
at Ruggles Street: ‘‘ Here we preach and teach a pro- 
cession.” A day school has fewer elements of stability 
than a boarding-school. We have had a few boarders 
from the beginning. In the growth of the mission, 
these must increase, for I want the town schocl to be 
a place equipped to receive any pupil from the jungle 
who is worthy and gives promise of future usefulness 
in the mission. We have graduated thirty pupils, of 
whom fifteen are Christians, ten have become teachers, 
ten have gone to colleze. We have now seven out- 
station schools, taught by teachers trained in the 
mission, aiid we have supplied a head master to the 
school at Myingyan. 


32 


Last year five pupils were baptized. We can hope- 
fully look for an increase in the present year. For 
every rupee received from America for the school, 
three more are raised in this country. Miss Stickney 
joined us in November of 1899, and with zeal, energy, 
and efficiency is devating her time to the work. The 
enlarged usefulness of the school is assured, for there 
are fresh opportunities frequently opening to establish 
new jungle schools, which in turn become feeders, as 
well as asource of light and life, in fact, the religious 
centre of the village in which placed. That schools 
are essential to a mission, I deem proved past refuta- 
tion in Burma. That the missionary needs to make 
their religious interests dominant goes without saying ; 
that out of them our most efficient workers must come, 
I see exemplified in our pastor Saya Taik, and in Mg. 
Yaw Ba, the head master of our leading out-station 
school at Danubyu. The former, who knows no English, 
passed through the mission schools of his day as pupil, 
teacher, theological student, preacher, pastor. He is 
the leading Burman in this mission. Mg. Yaw Ba 
marks the transition to the teaching of English in 
mission schools. He too has come up the line, pupil, 
college student, seven year’ in government service, 
paying back to his father what had been expended on 
his education, teacher in the town school, head master 
in a similar school at Danubyu, and the religious leader 
in that town of twelve thousand heathen. The results 
of school work are slow in maturing, but of surpassing 
permanent value. Help us to work out the problem 
here of more pupils, more college students, more trained 
teachers, an educated ministry, and the advancement of 
the line of light into all the centres of this densely 
populated district of three hundred thousand souls 
dependent upon this mission for the light. 


33 


HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE MORTON LANE 
BOARDING SCHOOL FOR BURMESE GIRLS. 


MISS MARTHA SHELDON. 


Over thirty years ago, in the beautiful city of Moul- 
mein, on the banks of the river Salwen, a young 
woman was planning her life-work. The daughter of 
devoted missionaries, who had labored together with 
Judson and other pioneers in Burma, she had been 
separated from her parents to be educated in one of 
our seminaries in Christian America. 

Now, haying graduated from the same institution 
that fostered the growth of Ann Hasseltine’s mind and 
heart, she had returned to the land of her birth. 

But her heart yearned for the Burman girls, some of 
them her old playmates, who had not the faintest con- 
ception of the advantages which had been hers. With 
Miss Susan E. Haswell, to think and feel was to act, 
and in November, 1867, the Morton Lane school sprang 
into existence. It was housed for a while in an old 
building, on the street from which it derived its name. 
But in October, 1873, a new two-story brick building 
was dedicated on Mission Street, which would better 
accommodate the growing school. 

The upper floor of teak wood, and the lower of Port- 
land cement, supported by handsome arches and pil- 
lars, and the whole whitewashed, it has been called 
‘¢'The White House,” and presents a pretty picture to 
the passerby as it stands in pleasing contrast to the green 
abundant foliage of the trees which surround it, and 
the red laterite roads which pass it and wind through 
the compound, under the porch, and between the trees. 

On the lower floor is a school-room capable of seat- 
ing a hundred pupils; a large recitation room, used 
also, in the evening, for asitting-room for the girls, for 
study, and for prayer- meetings; three small recitation 
rooms and a small store-room. 

The upper story contains. two large dormitories for 


b+ 


the boarders, a small one for the teachers, a large room 
and bath-room for the superintendent, and a room for 
the reception of visitors. In the rear of the building 
a cook-house was built, with an eating-shed attached, 
and, near the well, a bath-house was provided for the 
use of the girls. 

Miss Haswell had for her helpers, at different times, 
Miss Le Fevre for a year; Mrs. Douglass from 
1872-73, when she removed to the Kemendine school 
to assist Miss Gage; Miss Barrows, who, after a year’s 
service, took charge of the Eurasian Girls’ School, and 
Miss Myra H. Stetson, who, at the end of a year, 
came home to die. J was appointed to take her place, 
and arrived in January, 1877. 

At the end of its first decade the school numbered 
one hundred boarders and fifteen day pupils. Half 
were from heathen families. Boarders were bound to 
remain from three to five or eight years, according to 
age and circumstances. Many remained after their 
time was up. Several had married, and over twenty 
had become teachers. The giris did all the market- 
ing, cooking, cleaning, and other domestic work of the 
school. They had a half hour’s private devotion, reg- 
ular family worship, and an hour’s Bible lesson every 
day, besides attending weekly services at the Burman 
chapel. They devoted an hour a day to sewing, cut- 
ting, making, and mending their own clothes. 

Their secular studies were the common branches in 
Burmese, and those who wished to study English paid 
for it. Five day schools for girls in different districts 
were taught by graduates from the boarding-school, 
and meetings were held at these school-houses for 
heathen congregations, some of the boarding-school 
girls serving as choir. 

Miss Haswell had also started a hospital, where the 
older girls assisted in the watching and care of the 
sick, and in leading the patients to Christ. 

In July, 1878, bereft of father and brother, and full 
of anxiety for her mother, Miss Haswell, utterly worn 
out herself. came with her mother to America, leaving 


35 


me in charge of the school. It had been previously 
arranged for Miss Emily H. Payne to come to my 
assistance, and she was with me for five years, taking 
charge of the outside work, and helping me in the 
rainy season. In 1883 she came on furlough to 
America, having been in Burma seven years. 

In 1884 a normal department was added to the 
school, and a member of the Burman church in Moul- 
mein was secured as teacher, with the sanction of the 
English government, who paid his salary. 

The school had been registered by the government 
as a middle school, corresponding to our grammar 
schools, and received government aid, but depended 
mainly on our Board and friends at home for sup- 
port. 

Most of the girls came from poor families, many 
being too small to earn money for clothes and books as 
the older girls did. Heathen families would not pay 
for the education of their girls, when they would for 
their boys. 

It seemed to be a good time now to make a more 
vigorous attempt towards self-support, for the board- 
ing department was becoming unwieldy, one hundred 
girls being crowded into dormitories, which had accom- 
modation for seventy-five only. 

At first no new pupils were admitted, unless they 
agreed to provide their own clothes, bed covers, dishes, 
and books. Then the girls were encouraged to con- 
tribute towards new beds and lamps which were much 
needed, and the monthly payment of Rs. 2 for board 
was insisted on. 

When the normal department was added, a monthly 
stipend of Rs. 4 was received from government for each 
normal student up to the number of twenty. A'so for 
each graduate receiving a teacher’s certificate, a capita- 
tion grant was given, varying according to the grade 
of certificate. A bonus was given to the normal 
teacher also. From this department graduate yearly 
Christian certificated teachers, who are in demand in 
the mission schools all over Burma. i 


36 


They receive half-salary grants from government, 
and are encouraged to start new schools in the jungle 
villages. In 1886 Miss Agnes Whitehead came to 
relieve me, and nine months later, in the spring of 1887, 
I left the school in her hands, having carried it nearly 
through its second decade. When I returned in the 
fall of 1892, such advance had been made in self- 
support that Miss Whitehead had been able to return 
a good portion of the appropriation of our Board, and 
from that time the amount required grew less each 
year, till now less than a third of the expense comes 
from America. 

More than a third is received from government, in 
salaries, stipends, results, and attendance grants, and 
the remainder comes from boarding and day fees. 
Before Miss Whitehead left, early in 1893, government 
had made provision for the addition of a kindergarten 
department, giving her a building grant, apparatus 
from America, and the salary of a native teacher. She 
had put up a small wooden building of one room, and 
the kindergarten was opened. 

In March, Miss Whitehead sailed, and I now 
had the superintendence of a kindergarten, primary, 
grammar, normal and Bible school, all in one, in 
a foreign language; the finances and official corre- 
spondence with the Board at home, and the Educational 
Syndicate in Rangoon; annual reports to both; corre- 
spondence with the friends of missions in the home 
churches ; directing the housework and other industries 
of from sixty to seventy-five girls, mothering them, 
nurturing them in the fear and admonition of the Lord, 
and nursing them when sick. 

So I was glad to welcome, in November, 1893, Miss 
Lydia M. Dyer. At Hasseltine House, Newton Centre, 
she had received a kindergarten training, and so 
came fully equipped to take charge of that department. 
Her ability as a nurse, also, was appreciated, and as 
housekeeper. ‘Together, also, we became architects, 
planning and superintending the building of a new 
kindergarten, — ‘* Raymond House,” of which you have 


37 


read. If not, ask at the rooms for that beautiful story 
of God’s providence. 

We built, also, an addition to the main building, 
containing a room for the kindergarten superintendent, 
one for sick girls, a bath-room and pantry upstairs, and 
two good-sized class-rooms downstairs. Miss White- 
head had previously added a dining-room upstairs. 

Raymond House was dedicated in June, 1897, but 
its story and that of the work done within its walls 
is written elsewhere. Our normal work is now sup- 
plemented by a training in kindergarten methods and 
principles. Our first normal teacher was promoted to 
the position of Deputy Inspector of Schools, and his 
place filled by a normal graduate. 

In all departments there are nine teachers, all 
Christian graduates of our Normal School, two receiv- 
ing full salaries, the rest a moiety from government. 
The salaries range from five dollars to twenty dollars 
monthly. All give a tenth or more of their income 
toward the salaries of pastor and preachers, and the 
support of poor girls in the school, besides contribut- 
ing to the various organizations of which they are 
members. Housework, school work, Bible teaching, 
prayer-meetings, Christian Endeavor, King’s Daugh- 
ters’ and W. C. T. U. meetings and work, keep them 
busy and develop their Christian character. When I 
left the school in charge of Misses Hughes and Dyer, 
in December, 1898, over sixty girls had completed the 
normal course. Some have died, others married, and 
the rest can be traced to their present positions. Over 
six hundred pupils of nearly a dozen nationalities, 
from four to twenty-five years old, half of them 
boarders, have received instruction, from time to time, 
and the majority of Christian workers in Burma to-day 
are converts from this and other mission boarding 
schools. No one can estimate the far-reaching in- 
fluence of a Christian institution like this, in the midst 
of a heathen people. 


38 


RAYMOND HOUSE KINDERGARTEN AT 
MOULMEIN. 


MISS LYDIA DYER. 


One of the happiest events in the history of the 
Morton Lane School was the establishment of the 
kindergarten department on the morning of Jan. 4, 
1893 Like the beginnings of many larger enterprises 
it was a day of small things. Six merry children, 
representing four different races, Burman, Eura- 
sian, Chinese, and Mohammedan, gathered to form 
the nucleus of a kindergarten school. The parents 
came also, and it was difficult to tell which enjoyed 
the morning most. ‘To the child it was a new world, 
and to the parents a strange scheme and very uncertain 
but exceedingly interesting. The teacher Ma Thain-U 
had had a little training under Miss Black in Bassein. 
She was a bright Christian girl, a lover of all Christ’s 
little ones, and she entered into the work heartily. 

A small building about twenty by twenty-five feet 
floor, with a small veranda, had been previously put up 
by Miss Whitehead. Government had given fifteen 
hundred rupees for building and furnishings, and 
promised to pay the teacher sixty rupees a month, 
About this time it was necessary for Miss White- 
head to return home, and Miss Sheldon came back to 
take charge of the whole school until some one could 
be sent out who understood kindergarten to supervise 
that department. Miss Fredrickson, of the Western 
Board, who was then in charge of the kindergarten 
work in Rangoon, very kindly came over and started 
the school, and by correspondence helped Miss Shel- 
don to carry it on the first year, thus laying the 
good foundation that has made the school such a 
success. 

Despite the cramped accommodation the little garden 
was destined to grow, and before long, beside cases, 
tables, sand box, organ, and other necessary things, 


EE EE 


39 


it contained over thirty children and as many chairs, 
and there was scarcely standing room left. 

The building had been put up with jungle work, to 
save money (?), with a tiled roof the weight of which 
so strained the rafters that the rain poured down over 
everything. This was a method of house cleaning not 
altogether to be despised, but for health’s sake had to 
be abolished. We asked for a new building with 
better accommodations for the kindergarten itself and 
the calisthenic drills of the whole school, and as a 
result a new and commodious building has been erected, 
‘*Raymond House,” which stands a beautiful mon- 
ument to the society of the Epiphany Church of New 
York City. 

The teachers have changed from time to time, but 
our own normal class has supplied us with good girls 
who have taken a deep interest in the school. 

The present building contains but one room, but that 
is well adapted to the needs of the school. Its extreme 
length is fifty feet. and the width, including the addi- 
tion for the classes, forty feet. An old piano stands 
in the room, and although hoarse and somewhat asth- 
matic helps to Keep time for the little feet. 

The principal feature of the teaching has been the 
Bible work. Those little tots love the Bible stories 
and their faith is very sweet. Most of them are 
day scholars and are here only from ten to three 
each day. We often feel that the heathen influences 
and superstitions of their home life must counteract all 
their religious teaching here; but a visit to these 
homes soon proves the contrary. Such wonderful tales 
as the dear old grandmothers tell about the little ones. 
They will tell with great pride how the little ones! 
pray at night and how they preach to their elders 
(which is not according to Burman custom) about the 
true God and the love of Christ. It seems smart only, 
to the parents, but it means to us seed sown in good 
ground which will bring forth fruit later. 

Some of the little ones are very wild and wilful when 
they first come to us; they know not the meaning of 


40 


obedience, and never intend to know experimentally. 
If you could know individual children you would be 
both amused and pleased. For instance, there is little 
John Chinaman only three years old; turkey red 
trousers anda blue jacket make up his school costume : 
nature only provides his home clothing. Young Mo- 
hammed wears a white muslin tunic, over which is a 
small jacket of pink satin highly decorated with tinsel 
and green braid, and trousers to match. The cap, 
which matches only in elaboration, is worn continually. 
English shoes often grace the stockingless feet and 
help to make up what the natives think a smart look- 
ing lad. The Burman boys dress according to age, 
the younger ones with a single long garment gathered 
into a band at the neck, and the older ones wear a 
jacket and a kind of skirt, which is composed of one 
piece of straight cloth sewed together at the ends, 
which, by a series of twists and folds at the top, will 
stay in at least five minutes. The girls dress very 
much the same, except the skirt is put on a little 
differently and stays a little better. Young Aung Mya 
was a somewhat exaggerated type of young America 
when he came to us, but a wonderful change has come 
over him, and last hot season he was found in the 
cook-house praying for rain, and was very cross with 
his grandmother because she disturbed him. 

Those who stay with us as boarders are by far the 
most hopeful. Their sweet faith and love for Christ 
is often very touching. One little one in particular 
delights to talk of heaven which, to her childish mind, 
means to be with God and to play with Jesus. 

More than two hundred have been in the school. 
Many of the girls are still in the standards, and a 
large number of the boys have gone to the Burman 
boys’ school, ‘Three of the number have been bap- 
tized and united with the Church; others we feel sure 
are Christ’s own little disciples, and before long they 
will be allowed to confess him by baptism as they 
desire. 

Fifteen girls have been trained for kindergarten 


41 


teachers. The last class just sent out, composed of 
ten good Christian girls, received a government exam- 
ination, which they all passed well, and they will have 
the honor of receiving the first kindergarten certificates 
given in Burma. Most of them will go into our 
mission schools to teach. 

The need of their work is very great. Government 
is establishing kindergartens everywhere, and it means 
much for the future of Burma if these schools can be 
supplied with Christian girls trained in our Christian 
schools. 


42 


THE AMERICAN BAPTIST MISSION 
BURMESE BOYS’ SCHOOL, 
MOULMEIN. 


MRS. E. O. STEVENS. 


This school is situated on historic ground, it being 
on the plot of land originally granted to Rey. Ado- 
niram Judson by Sir Archibald Campbell, in 1827, for 
missionary purposes. ‘The land given to him at that 
time extended from the river to the foot of the hills 
back of the town, and was then dense jungle. The 
march of improvements has intersected it by three roads 
running north and south, namely, the Lower Main 
Road, Dalhousie Street, and the Upper Main Road. 
Dalhousie Street and the Lower Main Road now form 
the eastern and western boundaries of the boys’ school 
compound, leaving but about two acres of the original 
large grant. Part of the land was given back to the 
government by Dr. Judson, and other parts have been 
sold by the A. B. M. U., in times of stress for money. 

The building also is historic, dating.back to Dr. 
Judson’s time, when a part of it constituted the Mis- 
sion Press, then located in Moulmein. It was here 
that the first editions of the Burmese and Sgau Karen 
Bibles were printed. 

After the press was removed to Rangoon, the build- 
ing was first used for a day school for boys; then, in 
1876, a thousand rupees were raised among the friends 
of the school (chiefly from the members of the Eng- 
lish church), to enlarge the building, making it suitable 
for a boarding-school. 

The recitation rooms were below, on a level with the 
ground, and the dormitories and _ superintendent’s 
rooms above. In 1890 the Woman’s Society granted 
money for a still further enlargement, so that the head 
master and his family could live in the building, as 
well as the superintendent. Additional wings also for 
dormitories haye been added from time to time, until 


MISSION AT TAVOY. 

















AH SYOO AND FAMILY. 


He:d Teacher in the Mou'mein Boys’ School 


ENGLISH HIGH SCHOOL, 
MOULMEIN. 








43 


now one would hardly recognize in the present build- 
ing the humble original structure. 

The situation is most favorable for a school, as the 
land slopes gently to the lower main road, affording 
excellent drainage during the heavy rains of the south- 
west monsoon. ‘There are three wells in the compound, 
which the earlier missionaries had dug, which give an 
abundance of water until the end of the long dry 
season, and the playground is well supplied with a 
variety of trees, affording shade from the fierce heat of 
the sun. Prominent among these is the sweet flower- 
ing mesna with its heavy green foliage. At the 
western end of the school building is a fine large 
specimen of the ambustia, probably the most gorgeous 
of all flowering trees, planted by Mr. Bennett when in 
charge of the Mission Press. Two frangipanni trees, 
their branches topped with bunches of fragrant blos- 
soms, are pointed out as having been planted by Dr. 
Judson. ‘The English and Burmese chapels occupy a 
portion of the southern part of the compound, and on 
the eastern side is the dwelling of the resident Burman 
missionary. 

It would be difficult to say just when this school was 
started, as a school for Burman boys has been a 
feature of the Moulmein mission during most of its 
existence. The first Anglo-vernacular boys’ school in 
British Burma was taught by Rev. Cephas Bennett in 
Moulmein, but it was under the auspices of the 
government. This was started in 1835. Soon one of 
the pupils, Ah Vong (still living), became a Christian. 
Mr. Bennett was accused of proselytizing, and the 
school was closed Nov. 11, 1836, because government 
insisted that no religious instruction should be given. 

Thereupon Mr. and Mrs. R. B. Hancock established 
anindependent school. In 1838, with five pupils, it was 
reorganized as a boarding school and placed under the 
care of Rev. Hosea Howard. With the exception of a 
brief period, when Rev. Elisha Abbott was in charge, 
the school continued under Mr. Howard’s care until 
1849, when he was obliged to leave and take his 


Ad 


family home to America. ‘The school had grown to 
such an extent, that in 1847 it was reported that the 
number of scholars was ninety. Rev. Lyman Stilson 
took his place until near the close of 1851. In 1852 
the boarding department was abolished; and in 1853 
the whole school was suspended, as the result of the 
visit of the deputation which frowned upon schools. 

Soon after Rev. J. M. Haswell’s return from 
America in 1853, seeing the short-sightedness of this 
policy, he started a boys’ school, which with brief 
interruptions has continued until the present time. In 
1860, when Rey. J. R. Haswell came to the help of his 
father, he assumed charge of the school, raising its 
standard, and himself taking classes in higher arith- 
metic and algebra; but in less than three years he was 
obliged to return to America. On Miss Susan Has- 
well’s arrival in 1865 her recollection of the Burmese 
language was such as to fit her for the responsible 
position of head teacher in this school ; and until April, 
1867, she toiled faithfully in it. The school was then 
handed over to Rey. J. F. Norris, who had just come 
out to the Burman mission at Moulmein. For some 
reason he disbanded it, but on Miss Haswell’s return 
to Moulmein in September, 1867, at the earnest request 
of the native Christians, she reopened the school. Mr. 
Illffe was head master for awhile, then Moung Kyan, 
and after him Dr. Shaw Loo. From 1838 for nearly 
thirty-five years the boys’ and girls’ schools were on the 
same compound, the one now occupied by the Morton 
Lane girls’ school. The transfer to the Judson com- 
pound was made in 1873, probably. 

Rey. W. H. S. Haseall took charge of the school, 
both day and boarding departments, in 1877, and until 
health failed he and Mrs. Hascall gave time and 
strength without stint to the spiritual and temporal 
welfare of their pupils. 

In 1879 Miss Sarah B. Barrows came to assist Mr. 
and Mrs. Hascall, and on their return to America in 
1880 she took full charge. When Miss Barrows was 
called to become its superintendent, a good start had 


45 


been made in self-support, and she developed this 
beginning faithfully. Both boarders and day scholars 
were charged fees; the boys were taught to work about 
the school and dormitories, to carry water, buy and 
cook their own food, etc., ete. 

After nearly ten years of successful management, 
systematizing the classes and bringing the school up to 
a higher standard, Miss Barrows felt obliged to come 
home, and asked that a man and his wife might again 
have charge of the school. Mr. and Mrs. Peabody 
were appointed to take Miss Barrows’ place, but for a 
few months before their arrival Miss Rathbun took 
charge. On their reaching Moumein she went to 
Mandalay and they took up their new work. In about 
a year ill health compelled them both to leave, just as 
Miss Barrows was returning from her furlough. 
Though appointed to another station, she felt she 
could not see that work suffer, when she had labored 
so hard. With the concurrence of some of the Ran- 
goon missionaries she resumed charge in 1889, and 
worked again with her usual energy until 1896, when 
she resigned and went to Thaton. At this juncture 
Mrs. Crawley came from Henzada, and rendered most 
valuable service. Rev. W. H. Sharpe, however, 
became superintendent, and had charge until 1897, 
when his wife’s health demanded a change of climate 
and he went to Toungoo. Next Rey. E. O. Stevens 
had charge of the school, but in January, 1898, he 
was compelled to start for America on sick leave. 
Miss M. Sheldon had charge until the arrival of Rev. 
E. Grigg, who still has the care of the school in addi- 
tion to his other duties as Burman missionary of the 
station. 

Were it not for the efficiency of Ah Syoo, who for 
fifteen years has been head master, and his wife Ma 
Mya, who was long associated with Miss Barrows, 
these many changes would have been disastrous to the 
school. Ah Syoo is a son of the Ah Vong who was 
converted in Mr. Bennett’s school in 1835, and who 
combines in his character the best traits of the two 


46 


races which he represents, the Chinese and the Talaing. 
Energy, skill, and faithfulness, combined with his rare 
Christian devotedness, make him a marked man, and a 
tower of strength in the school and church. He and 
his wife speak English fluently. The school is Anglo- 
vernacular, teaching up to the eighth grade, and is 
annually inspected and examined by the government 
educational officers. There are no graduation exer- 
cises, but those who pass the examinations can enter 
into the higher grade, either in this school or any other, 
which is subject to government inspection. 

It would be impossible to tell how many boys have 
in this school been brought under religious influences. 
Many have been converted while there, and not a few 
have gone forth as school-masters to other parts of 
Burma. Some are retained as teachers in this school 
when they have obtained their education, others go to 
the college in Rangoon. 

The number of pupils, according to the last annual 
report, was one hundred and forty-one. Many of the 
day scholars belong to heathen families, but are brought 
under Christian instruction ‘while in the school, and 
carry away with them much knowledge of the Bible and 
sacred hymns. The nearness of the chapel enables them 
to be present at all the public services there, and 
besides these they have class and general prayer-meet- 
ings in the school. There is also a flourishing Band 
of Hope. 

Station schoo!s such as this are a source of strength 
to any Christian community where they may be placed, 
and are needed as feeders to the college. 

If in this land Christian academies are needed, much 
more are they in a heathen land where the youth are 
surrounded by the worst of influences. Christian 
homes and Christian schools are revolutionizing the 
Jand of Alompra, and are potent influences in changing 
it into Immanuel’s land. 


47 


RECORD OF THE ENGLISH GIRLS’ HIGH 
SCHOOL, MOULMEIN, BURMA, 
FROM 1882. 


MISS SARAH SLATER. 


Mrs. Longley and Mrs. Sharland were energetic in 
purchasing the present building occupied by the school. 
For that purpose Mrs. Longley, now Mrs. Seaton, went 
to England to interest the people there. She succeeded 
to such an extent that this property of fifteen acres 
and a large substantial teak building was purchased 
from a resident lawyer at a cost of Rs. 12,000. It is 
pleasantly located on the western slope of the Moul- 
mein hills, and being isolated from the busy town is 
admirably adapted for its purpose. One of our Bap- 
tist residents, Mrs. Bryson, daughter of Mrs. Ady, 
was placed in charge to fill the interim between 
Mrs. Longley’s superintendence and Miss Bunn’s arrival 
in 1882, to take charge of the work. Our Western 
improvements in educational lines are in striking con- 
trast now to those of the Orient; what they were 
then can only be comprehended by the new comer. 
However, Miss Bunn must have emphatically closed 
her eyes to all visions of the fairy land of hopes 
and dreams, and opened them only to the condition of 
things. Being a thorough disciplinarian, she soon had 
rays of light streaming in through the density, and 
with active determination and tireless energy she 
soon placed the school on a firm, desirable educational 
basis. Many new scholars availed themselves of the 
opportunity of studying with Miss Bunn. The school 
grew, and increased in numbers and influence. Not 
an unfair proportion were brought to Christ and con- 
fessed him in baptism. The church record would 
reveal the number, but it is not now ayailable to the 
writer. Miss Whitehead came out to the work among 
the Burmese girls at the Morton Lane girls’ school in 
1886. As Miss Bunn was somewhat overtaxed with 


48 


her wearing duties and must take a rest, Miss White- 
head assumed charge for a year, while Miss Bunn took 
a vacation. 

Now let us pass a few years of school routine, and 
glance in at the school in December, 1889. Were 1 
dwelling with the scholars particularly I could record 
many funny instances and experiences of getting 
acquainted. A school of thirty-six greeted the new 
comer, and question marks answered to question marks 
as new eyes met new eyes, and conclusions of friend- 
ship or antagonism were quietly interchanged. Three 
grades and four teachers were on the school register. 
The lower primary, consisting of two classes, was in 
charge of Miss Nellie McGraw, who was sister of one 
of the first pupils of the school. Both sisters are now 
dead, Miss Nellie having died but a year ago. The 
second grade, upper primary, two classes, was in 
charge of Miss Leontine Montgomery, one of the most 
faithful, conscientious Christians it has been my privi- 
lege to meet the world over. The middle school, three 
classes, was in charge of Miss Harriet Smith, while 
the Burmese and sewing were systematically and sue- 
cessfully taught by the present teacher, Ma Thein Yin, 
whose face many of you have seen in our dear home 
land. Time works changes; our thirty-six very soon 
became transposed, and the doors of our little school- 
room swarmed with faces eager to be in touch with the 
opening exercises. We needed more room, —a fact 
beyond denial, indeed. Our Board, ever willing to 
advance our work, granted us the means of erecting a 
new building. In a short while a pretty little building 
was the outcome, and as you read its name you do not hear 
the noise of the hammer, hatchet, and plane, nor the 
melodious songs of the coolies as they raised post after 
post to a perpendicular from a horizontal position. 
Nor can you hear their pleadings for backsheesh at the 
close of the day’s work. No, you only read a change 
in the name of the school. Formerly it was the 
** Eurasian Girls’ Home.” Now you read ‘ English 
Girls’ High School, 1893,” for we added two more 


49 


classes so that we may keep our girls two more years 
with us. Now we have ten teachers. The kinder- 
garten has fifteen tiny mites with their interesting little 
teacher. Our teachers are, with one exception, all our 
own girls, from the kindergarten to the ninth standard, 
and we thank God for them. Miss Leontine Mont- 
gomery is still with us, having spent twenty years as 
pupil or teacher in our school. Also Ma Thein Yin, in 
the same capacity as before, absent only while she was 
in America becoming acquainted with her Western sis- 
ters. Miss Kushmore, now Mrs. Craighead, was asso- 
ciated with me almost a year, in 1893, till she left to 
marry Rev. J. Craighead of Assam. Miss Alice Ford 
came out in 1894, and was associated with me until 
1896, when I returned to America for rest (a mission- 
ary s rest), and in the fall of 1896, Miss L. B. Hughes, 
who is now at Morton Lane school, came out to be asso- 
ciated with Miss Ford. New buildings, new furniture, 
new dormitories, all engross our time. Our school 
closed with one hundred and thirty-three on the regis- 
- ter, and a prospect of a greater number opens our 
eyes to wonder where we will store them all; but the 
Lord will provide for his own. 

During the six years, 1889-1896, forty-two were 
baptized. Probably six hundred pupils have been 
enrolled during the existence of the school. Of that 
number two hundred or more haye been brought 
into the fold. Some have gone to their reward. 
In Christian homes here and there you will find 
others, for Cupid’s arrows are not bounded by ocean 
currents. When we haye a good teacher we some- 
times wish they were. Many are teaching for other 
schools, and filling other positions. Our curricu- 
lum calls for arithmetic, algebra, euclid, geography, 
reading, English history, grammar, Indian history, 
science, physiology, Burmese or French, music, needle 
work, and, chief of all, the Bible, which is taught in all 
classes according to the prescribed Bible Course of 
Study prepared by our Missionary Convention. We 
are builders for the great Master Builder. 


50 


THE BASSEIN KAREN SCHOOL. 


(We regret our inability to secure a good sketch of 
this school, and have selected these few facts con- 
cerning the beginning from the early reports. ) 

‘* The school was established by the late Rey. J. 
S. Beecher, in 1860, upon a tract of land granted 
to the mission by government, partly in acknowledg- 
ment of the loyal services of the Bassein Karens 
in putting down armed opposition in 1853. It is 
the child of an intense desire and a_ settled purpose 
of the Karen pastors of this district to secure for their 
children and their children’s children the benefits of a 
high Christian education. It is the child of their 
prayers, fed and clothed from its birth by their own 
uustinted bounty. A hundred and fifty scholars were 
reported in attendance the first year. 

‘+ Mr. Beecher, holding with many missionaries and 
friends of missions the opinion that an English eduea- - 
tion was neither practicable nor desirable for Karens, 
had repeatedly declined their urgent proposal to estab- 
lish an English department in the new town school. 
In the course of this year, however, he found that the 
Karens were actually laying plans and collecting money 
to establish an English school of their own at Kosoo, 
six miles from Bassein. He therefore wisely decided 
to yield to their wishes and accept their liberal offers. 

‘* During the early history of the school Miss Baldwin 
and Miss Walling went to a heathen village fora vaca- 
tion, to try to interest the girls and women, with some 
success; but as Miss Baldwin’s health continued to 
fail, she accepted an invitation to Toungoo, and find- 
ing that climate more favorable to her health, she 
decided to make it her permanent home. She after- 
ward became Mrs. E. B. Cross. 

‘* When Miss Walling received an invitation to go 
to Tounyoo, she referred the decision of her place 
of labor to the Board, and wrote: ‘I wish to state 





MRS. HARRIET CARPENTER, 


Missionary to Burma, and later to Japan, 


Through her appeal for helpers for the school 
work in Bassein, Burma, The Woman's Baptist 
Foreign Missionary Society was organized in |871. 








d1 


anew the platform on which I stand: To go where 
I am sent, to stay where I am put, and to do the 
work which is given me to do. When I arrived in 
the country I was exhorted . . . to stand up for my 
rights with the Board. Now, I consider it my right 
that the Board shall designate my field of labor, and I 
intend to maintain my right.” In the judgment of the 
Board this is a very wise way for a missionary to 
maintain her rights. Itsecures harmony and efticiency 
as well. It was decided that she was needed at Bassein 
and she continued to render efticient service there.” 

A later report states, ‘* Miss Manning has continued 
to teach four hours daily in the school, to have the care 
of three classes of English composition, to teach her 
Bible class on Sunday, and give what time she can to 
the translation of Karen. She writes: ‘I have no 
long, pathetic accounts to give of my arduous labors 
and wonderful achievements. It seems almost idle to 
attempt to report the quiet, steady work of school 
routine; and yet I am glad to help this people to 
secure what is so needful for them, —a good Christian 
education that shall fit them to be independent, reli- 
able Christian workers.’ ” 

In 1876 we read : — 

‘Miss Belle Watson, who had gone out first in 
1870, with improved health and a brave, trusting 
heart, started alone from New York, joining the Cush- 
ings at Glasgow, and journeyed with them to Burma, 
reaching Bassein in November. She shared at once 
the responsibilities and labors which had rested heavily 
on the others since Miss Baldwin left. 

‘¢ The school has been again bereaved by the death 
this year of the principal native teacher, who was also 
the loved and trusted pastor of the church, Rev. J.P. 
Sahnay. 

‘The present number of scholars is two hundred and 
thirty, of whom about one fourth are girls. Tliese are 
divided into two departments. the English and the ver- 
nacular, and these into twelve graded classes. Be- 
sides Mrs. Carpenter and the three lady missionaries, 


52 


there are seven native teachers and eight pupil assist- 
ants. There is a daily Scripture exercise, class and 
general prayer-meetings, and singing classes in the 
evenings; and the whole school meets as a Sunday 
school, with Mr. Yab-bah as superintendent. There 
have been nine baptisms in the school during the year. 

‘* In a mission school, the religious state must always 
be the chief object of anxiety and care. We are not 
embarrassed, as the managers of some mission schools 
in India are said to be, by the necessity of employing 
heathen masters. Al! of our assistants, without ex- 
ception, are professed Christians, and seem to take a 
deep interest in the spiritual welfare of the pupils. 
Besides the Sunday school and devotional exercises 
every morning and evening, one hour a day is given 
by all to the systematic study of the Bible. 

‘¢ In preparaing for the Bible lesson, an hour, atleast, 
of study is required from teachers and pupils. We 
think many a native preacher who has no regular daily 
hours, or places, or listeners would accomplish less of 
positively religious work in a week than the quiet 
teacher by this plan. We are happy to be able to re- 
port that during the year there has been an unusually 
deep and tender religious spirit on the part of many in 
the school. Fifteen of the pupils were baptized by the 
pastor and superintendent, beside several more who 
were baptized by their own pastors during the school 
vacation. We have now one hundred and twenty-three 
professed Christians, out of a total of two hundred 
and nine pupils. With two or three exceptions all are 
the children of Christian parents. Four fifths are girls. 

** In 1878 Miss Walling decided to share Mr. James- 
son’s home and work. She was married May 16, 
and moved over to the Burman compound. She had 
become a most valuable teacher and helper, and it 
seemed hardly possible to spare her from the school, 
for Miss Watson was not strong, and Miss McAllister, 
who had been but a short time in the country, was not 
yet able to use the language. 

** After Miss Walling left she moved over to the 


53 


girls’ building, to have some oversight of the girls, 
and also took another class in school. She gained 
steadily in her knowledge of the language and people, 
and also in her health. 

‘Miss Batson, who was appointed to take Miss 
Walling’s place, sailed in October, 1879, arriving in 
Rangoon Dec. 5.” 

The year 1881 saw many changes. Mr. and Mrs. 
Carpenter,.on account of his failing health, were obliged 
to leave Bassein, laying the care of the school on Mr. 
Nichols, who still bears it. Miss Batson became Mrs. 
Price. Miss Watson was obliged to go on furlovgh, 
and only Miss McAllister remained. An epidemic of 
small-pox caused a panic and many of the students 
left. The following year the school was brought under 
government inspection,and the grant that year amounted 
to 2,500 rupees. ‘The Karens, in their desire to add per- 
manence to the school, pledged $10,000 to the Abbott 
Memorial Fund. The following year, 1883, the attend- 
ance rose to two hundred boys and twenty-seven girls. 
Miss Watson returned and the work went on in a quiet, 
uneventful way, doing faithful, thorough work. Miss 
Hardin and Miss Harris, of the Western Board, kindly 
assisted Miss Watson at different periods in 1886. 
The report shows an enrolmentof three hundred and 
fifty, with fifty-four baptisms. In 1889 Miss Hawkes 
took charge while Miss Watson rested in America, after 
twelve years of uninterrupted service. ‘The school in- 
creased to more than four hundred pupils. In 1893 
Miss Hawkes writes of moving with Miss Harris into 
the house the Karens had built, which they have named 
‘¢The Land of Canaan.” Mr. Cross assisted in Mr. 
Nichols’ absence. Later the school work was divided, 
Miss Watson taking the girls and Miss Hawkes the 
boys. In 1896 Miss Hawkes was transferred to 
Shwegyin and Miss Watson has labored alone. Miss 
Edna Scott, whose father was a missionary to Bassein, 
and who was herself born there, expects to go back 
this coming fall, 1900, to give her life to the school 
which has been such a power for good to the Karens. 


MISSION SCHOOLS IN TAVOY: 
MRS. HORATIO MORROW. 


Among a poor, ignorant, and scattered people such 
as we have in Tavoy, we need, not so much a man who 
can stand up in the chapel on Sunday and harangue 
the people, as a man who can preach by the wayside, 
or can teach the family grouped together on the veranda 
in the evening, or teach the village school of ten 
or twenty pupils, and in doing these things count 
himself favored of God, because he has given him 
the opportunity. A man who shall not despise the 
day of small things, but be ready to embrace every 
opportunity to reach the people. ‘*O Lord, raise up 
men who shall teach this people,” has been our prayer 
uttered hundreds of times. God has heard us, and 
sent some noble men well trained and devoted to the 
Master’s work. The greatest help a missionary can 
have is such a body of native preachers and teachers. 
These receive their training in the mission school in 
Tavoy. It is to this school that I wish to direct your 
attention. Its location leaves little to be desired. The 
campus contains forty acres, slightly elevated above the 
surrounding paddy (or rice) fields. It was formerly 
owned by an official, who laid it out, and planted 
it with beautiful shade trees. All the buildings, with 
one exception, have been rebuilt by the present mission- 
ary. Last year there were in this school one hundred 
and fifty pupils. These come from the villages of 
Tavoy and Mergui districts. They are divided into 
seven Classes; four in the primary, and three in the 
grammar school department. We teach up to the 
high school. All of the pupils study Karen and Bur- 
mese, and most of them English. With the exception 
of the Burmese teachers, all have been educated in this 
school, and are Christians. When we went to Tavoy, 
we found a primary school of thirty pupils and one 








i 














OUR SGAU KAREN SCHOOL AT BASSEIN. 





D9 


-teacher ; Mr. Morrow left a school of one hundred and 
twelve pupils and eight teachers, teaching both English 
and Burmese. ‘* Commit the things thou heardest from 
me to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others 
also.” 

This direction indicates one of the main subjects of 
study in a mission school. The first forty-five minutes 
in the morning is given to Bible study. For the first 
five years the course of Bible study is definitely laid 
out, and is conducted by native teachers. During the 
last two or three, when pupils come into Mr. Morrow’s 
class, the subject of their study varies. On Sunday 
we take up the International Lessons, which are pre- 
pared for us in Karen. By keeping up daily study of 
the Bible for from seven to ten years, our pupils come 
to be very well grounded in Bible history and doctrine. 
But it is in the devotional meetings that the great truths 
of the Scriptures are brought home to the heart and 
conscience. A very important part of our work is 
-done in the evening, when the lessons of the day are 
over. When I came home the school numbered one 
hundred and fifty. Of these sixty had made no pro- 
fession of faith, and ninety were members of the 
church. Every Tuesday evening, for many years, I 
have gathered all the unconverted together, and we 
have talked of our sins, our holy and loving Father, 
our blessed Saviour; the way of salvation by faith, 
and a death that never ends. As we have no suitable 
room for our little evening prayer-meetings, these 
children often come to my sitting-room, from which much 
of the furniture has been removed. ‘They sit on the 
floor, and quite fill both the sitting and dining rooms, 
which are thrown into one by drawing aside a curtain 
that separates them. Most of these children have been 
in school only one, two, or three years. The greater 
part of them are from twelve to sixteen years of age, 
but some have grown to manhood and womanhood. 
Probably a dozen of them are from heathen homes. 
Some of them have only had the very grudging con- 
sent of parents to their coming to school, and thus 


56 


gaining some of the advantages which they see Chris- 
tian children enjoying. ‘There were nearly sixty girls 
in school when I came home in July, 1896, ranging in 
age from ten to twenty-two years. 

One little girl, baptized a few months since, has four 
generations of Christian ancestors behind her. One 
of our teachers is a young woman who has graduated 
from the school, also as a nurse and midwife. She 
speaks not only Pwo and Sgau Karen, but also Bur- 
mese and English. She is a very capable girl to work, 
a sweet singer, and plays the Karen harp. Yet she 
was bornin a heathen home, and remembers the time 
when as achild she went with the family to worship 
idols. One ought to look into the blank face of a 
heathen Karen woman, and then turn to the bright, 
animated face of a Christian to see what the gospel 
can do. Some of the older school girls, too, are very 
capable, gentle, and lovable. 

I remember at the opening of the school year in 
May, 1877, I looked out into the back yard one after- 
noon, and saw a young girl wearing a very dirty dress 
and suffering from a skin disease. Her appearance 
repelled me, and I turned away from her with loathing. 
That girl proved to be bright and intelligent. To-day 
she is the wife of one of the jungle teachers, and one 
of the most companionable women that we have. One 
evening in the month they hold a lyceum; the other 
Wednesday evening a prayer or conference meeting. 
They have their president, secretary, and treasurer, for 
they take a collection at their lyceum. The exercises 
consist of singing, reading, recitations, and discussions. 
These are some of the questions that have been before 
them: ‘‘Is it right for mothers ever to deceive their 
children?’’ ‘* Ought women to work in the fields?” 
‘* Has the time arrived when women should go out as 
evangelists in Tavoy and Mergui?”’ ‘* Should married 
women give to benevolent objects apart from their hus- 
bands?” ‘* Has the time arrived for the formation of 
a Woman’s Missionary Society?’’ The members of 
this lyeeum wrote letters to the women of the churches, 


57 


and advised them to hold meetings, and take a collec- 
tion once a month. This they did. These several local 
women’s circles organized themselves into a Woman’s 
Missionary Society two years ago. One young woman 
from this town school, who has been deeply interested 
in this woman’s work from the first, went out last year 
as an evangelist to visit all the churches in the interest 
of the Woman’s Missionary Society. This new society 
meets with indifference and indeed with some opposi- 
tion. It has, however, a place in the hearts of a few 
earnest souls, and we trust it may grow to be a bless- 
ing to our women, as the missionary work has been to 
the women of America. 

I do not think our girls have, as a rule, developed as 
nobly as the boys. They are not so broad, or so self- 
sacrificing for the Master’s cause. As the womans 
nature is more sorely cramped by heathenism, perhaps 
we should expect the sterner virtues would develop 
in her more slowly. It is difficult to arouse in giris 
proper self-assertion. They will seldom express an 
opinion on any subject in a mixed class, seeming to 
feel it would be immodest to do so. But they are im- 
proving, and so is public opinion. Twenty years ago, 
and later, the boys were fond of coutending that 
women had no souls and could not be saved. Abra- 
ham, Isaac, and Jacob sat down in the kingdom of 
Heaven, but nowhere was it said that a woman entered 
into the kingdom. Spirited discussions were carried 
on between the boys and girls on the subject. One 
day the girls came running to me, full of indignation, 
asking what they should say to the boys. While their 
souls resented the position the boys were taking, they 
could not find satisfactory arguments with which to 
silence them. Soon after we had a little talk in the 
school-room one day about that grand word ‘+ who- 
soever,” what it meant, and whom it included. As 
there was no difference of opinion on the subject, it 
closed the controversy. 

The school is the centre of the work done in every 
Karen mission field. To it come troops of children 


58 


from the jungle, with body, mind, and heart undisci- 
plined, and from it go out the finest product of the 
mission field, young men and women ready for work 
and for sacrifice. To this work I have given eighteen 
years of my life, and if it pleased the Master I should 
be happy to give as many more. In nothing that I 
have ever done, do I rejoice so much as in the humble 
part I have had in moulding the character of those who 
are evangelizing the heathen, and building up the 
churches of Tavoy and Mergui to-day. 


59 


A FEW FACTS ABOUT THE PWO-KAREN 
MISSION SCHOOL AT MAUBIN. 


MISS CARRIE PUTNAM. 


To write a full history of the Pwo-Karen school at 
Maubin it would be necessary to go back about forty 
years, to the time when the veteran Pwo missionary, 
Rey. D. L. Brayton, opened a Pwo-Karen school in 
Rangoon, gathering into it a large number of pupils, 
and making it a great power for good among his people. 
Of those early days I cannot speak particularly, but 
I know that several of our present pastors and 
evangelists, and many of our most substantial laymen, 
were trained in that school by Mr. Brayton, assisted 
by his wife and their daughter, now Mrs. A. T. Rose, 
of the Woman’s Bible School in Rangoon. 

In 1879 Rev. W. Bushell took charge of this 
field, and moved the school to a more central location 
at Maubin. Here a compound was secured and tem- 
porary buildings erected. The school was first held in 
the bamboo house occupied by the mission family, and 
the first pupil was a young heathen Karen girl who is 
now the efficient wife of one of our ordained preachers. 
The first season the school numbered but fifteen pupils, 
some of whom were grown people, some even motliers, 
who sat on the floor with their children and learned to 
read the Bible in their own tongue. 

The first need was a chapel, and this the native 
Christians provided, cutting the bamboos, floating them 
down the river to Maubin, and erecting with their own 
hands the temporary building which, soon after its 
completion, was occupied by a school of seventy pupils. 
A widow offered her house for a girls’ dormitory. It 
was torn down, brought to Maubin, and put up there. 
Another widow gave her house for a boys’ dormitory. 
After a while a rough chapel of cheap material was 
erected, the school boys doing most of the work. 

The school continued to grow until it numbered 


60 


about a hundred pupils, and in 1886 the writer was 
sent out to assist in the work. Soon after this the 
school was more thoroughly organized and graded and 
raised from a primary to a middle school. Soon the 
old chapel became much dilapidated and entirely inade- 
quate to the growing needs of the school. Mr. Bushell, 
who with Mrs. Bushell had labored with untiring devo- 
tion for the success of the school, now began to urge 
upon the Karens the imperative need of raising funds 
for a new chapel. They rallied around him enthusi- 
astically, and soon contributed more than six thousand 
rupees. With this and an equal sum from America, 
supplemented by a generous grant from government, 
a substantial and commodious building was erected, 
admirably suited to the needs of the school and the 
joy and pride of every Karen in our mission. This 
was completed in 1890, and in the following year Miss 
Kate Knight was sent to assist in the school, where she 
rendered most eflicient service until she was transferred 
to Shwegyin in 1896. 

In 1893 Rev. M. E. Fletcher assumed charge of 
the school, and remained in charge until 1898 when he 
returned to America leaving the school in charge of 
the writer. The following year Rey. B. P. Cross was 
sent to Maubin and has since had more or less connec- 
tion with the school. 

And now, having glanced at the small beginnings of 
the school, and its gradual growth in members and 
efficiency, let us make it a brief visit to learn its 
present condition. The first object that attracts 
your attention as you approach the compound is the 
fine large building which serves the double purpose of 
chapel and school-house. It stands facing the broad 
Irrawaddy River, surrounded by fine mango trees. 
On your right as you approach it stands the house 
built for the single ladies of the mission and called by 
them ‘* Chautauqua Cottage,’ not from the superior 
literary attainments of its inmates, but because those 
inmates came from the lovely portion of the Empire 
State which bears that name. Back of Chautauqua 


or) 
— 


Cottage stands the girls’ dormitory, a roomy and sub- 
stantial building, occupied at present by twenty-five 
girls. On the left of the chapel stands the boys’ 
dormitory with its sixty occupants, and across the road 
is the mission house. 

Entering the chapel you will find on the second floor 
a large hall capable of accommodating one hundred 
and fifty pupils, with class-rooms leading off from the 
four corners, while other class-rooms occupy the lower 
floor. Should your visit occur in the morning, you 
would find the boys busy cutting wood, bringing water, 
pounding out paddy, and cutting weeds or doing other 
work on the compound. ‘The girls would be putting 
their dormitory in order, sweeping the chapel, win- 
nowing rice, and doing various other duties. 

At nine o’clock you would see the chapel filled with 
pupils large and small, round-faced, roly-poly little 
Mongolians crowding the front benches, dignified 
young men and women occupying the rear seats, with 
jads and lassies of all ages filling the space between, 
about a hundred and twenty in all. ‘They are of all 
ages from five to twenty-five, and represent at least 
four different races. A chorus of real melody rises 
as their young voices ring out one of the Gospel songs 
in their own language, or perhaps a standard church 
hymn set to Duke Street or Ortonville or Lenox. Then 
after the Divine blessing has been invoked they sepa- 
rate to their various class-rooms and give the first hour 
of the day to the study of God’s Word. They follow 
as nearly as possible a series of graded lessons, begin- 
ning with a simple catechism and then advancing to 
the Gospels, the Acts, the chief historical books of the 
Old Testament, then taking some of the epistles and 
selected portions of the Psalms and prophetic books. 

The Bible lesson finished, you will find the more 
advanced classes wrestling with problems in algebra. 
or geometry, or perhaps with some complicated sen- 
tence in English or Burmese, while the younger 
classes are busy with the three R’s or geography, or 
laboriously trying to master the first lessons in reading, 


62 


which, alas! must be done in three different languages, 
— Karen, Burmese, and English. The whole course 
extends over a period of seven years, and to graduate 
one must have a good knowledge of English (ineluding 
spelling, grammar, and composition), Burmese, arith- 


59 > 


metic, geography, and some knowledge of geometry 
and algebra. 

The play hour finds them engaged in foot-ball or 
some other game, or off for a walk. The evening 
brings the prayer-meeting, the C. E., or the even- 
ing study hour. The Sabbath has its early prayer- 
meeting, its Sunday school, its mid-day sermon, and 
its evening service. 

Thus the busy days and years pass, the round- 
faced urchins grow into sturdy lads and lasses, then 
into thoughtful youths and maidens ; then when school- 
days are done, they go out to take their places in the 
world as Christian preachers, teachers, clerks, farmers, 
business men. Some of the girls become teachers, 
some nurses; most eventually marry and take their 
place as wives and mothers, to make Christian homes 
and train up their children in the fear of God. 

During the past thirteen years more than five hundred 
pupils have attended this school for a longer or 
shorter period, and more than a hundred of these have 
been baptized while here. Forty of the latter entered 
the school as heathen. About forty per cent of the 
whole number of pupils were heathen when they entered 
the school. Compared with the number enrolled, the 
number of graduates is very small. Many take the 
full course, fail in the very difficult final examinations, 
and leave without graduating. Several! times, owing 
to the smallness of the graduating class, we have 
sent them to the Baptist College to take the last year’s 
work there. 

So far as I know there have been but twelve full 
graduates, though we hope to nearly double the number 
this year. Of these twelve, four are teachers, four 
are office clerks, one is a student in the Baptist Normal 
School, and one in the Theological Seminary. The 


65 


others are farmers. Many who have not completed 
the course have done and are still doing excellent 
work. ‘Two former pupils are now ordained preachers, 
three are unordained evangelists; three are teaching in 
the Baptist College, three in our own school, and many 
in other places. Several of the girls are trained nurses 
and midwives, many others are married, and some 
have entered into rest. 

Thus the influence of the school reaches far beyond 
the narrow limits of our mission station, into scores of 
communities and hundreds of homes and hearts. Often 
a whole household is conyerted through a single mem- 
ber converted and trained in the school. Old pupils 
return to their own villages to be pillars in the churches, 
and helpers in every good work. Thus the Christian 
community increases and Christian influences are ex- 
tended, undermining old superstitions, and preparing 
the way of the Lord in this vast wilderness of sin and 
heathenism. 


64 


THE SHWEGYIN KAREN SCHOOL. 
REV. E. N. HARRIS. 


As in most of our Karen missions, so in Shwegyin, 
education and evangelization have, as by a sort of 
necessity, gone hand in hand. It was in 1853 that 
Rev. Norman Harris, the founder of the mission, 
leaving Moulmein, where he had labored happily for a 
period of seven years, made his way with his devoted 
wife and a few faithful followers to this heathen town, 
and, having tied up his bark in a little mountain stream 
flowing by, went on shore to hold the first Christian 
services that had ever been observed in all that region. 
Even while he spoke, a Karen man chanced ( ?) along 
who, having outgrown the childish superstitions of his 
race, had given his allegiance to Buddhism, but, 
although earliest of the worshippers at the pagoda, and 
most unstinted in his gifts of charity, found the needs 
of his soul unsatisfied and was still looking for light 
and rest. Seeing a white foreigner, and hearing fall 
from his lips the accents of his own language, he 
stopped to listen. Never had he heard such words of 
grace before. He found here what his soul needed, 
believed at once, and, Karen like, stole away without 
making himself known, to impart to family and friends 
the good news he had found. In a few days he re- 
turned, and less than two months from the time when 
that first Christian service was held in that rude little 
shed, he and seven others were baptized at a spot near 
where the missionary’s boat had been moored, and the 
first Shwegyin church was organized. 

The real beginning of the Skwegyin Karen school 
took place when this first convert, feeling within him . 
the impulse of a new life, experienced the desire to 
learn to read, so that he might be able the better to 
proclaim the glad truths he had found. With him 
there were soon others, however, for the converts of 
the first year numbered no fewer than five hundred and 


65 


sixty-seven, and from that time on the school became 
an established institution. 

One peculiarity of the Shwegyin school, which meets 
us almost from the start and is worthy of mention 
here because it makes its early history well nigh unique, 
is that for many years it had but little supervision from 
the missionary, but was largely under the management 
of native teachers. Ten days after that glad time 
when the first converts put on Christ in baptism, Mrs. 
Harris, the devoted wife and mother, passed away, 
leaving behind her a dying charge that the work at 
Shwegyin should on no account be given up, and her 
dust still consecrates that heathen soil and silently 
appeals to God for the spiritual conquest of that land. 
That beginning was largely premonitory of the history 
of the mission, from that day down almost to the 
present. Three years later Mr. Harris brought 
another helpmeet to his assistance, but, after a brief 
and happy service of six months, she too was removed 
from the scene of her earthly labors. In 1858 still 
another companion joined him in loving effort, but 
frequent and malignant attacks of malarial fever made 
her prolonged residence in Shwegyin impossible. And 
so, until in 1882, in a ripe old age, Mr. Harris turned 
his face for the last time to the home land, he was 
obliged to spend most of his missionary life in Shwe- 
gyin alone. The consequence was that for a long time 
the school was largely without that supervision from 
lady missionaries which it had been the privilege of 
most mission schools to haye. Fortunately, however, 
able Karen assistants were raised up who did much to 
make up for the deficiency. Thus, in 1873, Kohcher, 
a Karen who had been brought to America and given 
an American education, returned to his native land and 
became a valued assistant in the work. About six 
years later the teaching force was augmented by the 
addition of Samuel Tahree, a son of the first convert, 
who soon proved himself an unusually competent work- 
man, and was subsequently for many years the active 
and efficient head master. After the departure of 


66 


Mr. Harris for the home land, in 1882, followed not 
long after by his death there, the missionary manage- 
ment of the school for a number of years was some- 
what irregular, and it was perhaps during this trying 
period that the services of the native assistants was 
most valuable, as well as most indispensable; but in 
1893 Rey. Edward N. Harris, a son of the first 
missionary, went out to the field, and since then the 
school has had the benefit of his continued supervision. 
From 1895-1897 Miss Hattie E. Hawkes rendered 
valuable assistance. In October, 1899, Miss Stella 
T. Ragon joined the mission force at Shwegyin and 
is now giving the school careful and efficient oversight. 

As to the intellectual and moral tone of the school, 
for many years the sessions were held for only four or 
five months during the rains, and the Bible was the 
principal text-book; but as the intelligence of the 
people increased there was a demand for a wider 
curriculum and a more extended period of instruction. 
Still it was not until about 1882 that the school was 
brought under government inspection and made to 
meet government requirements as to studies, and it 
was not until 1895 that it became a regularly recog- 
nized seventh standard school for instruction in 
English as well as the vernacular. At all times, how- 
ever, it had maintained a good record for scholarship. 
It has also always been a source of spiritual power 
and strength to the churches, and has in turn received 
from them cordial sympathy and support. No aid is 
received from America for the salaries of teachers, or 
for any of the running expenses, which are borne ex- 
clusively by the contributions of the Christian Karens, 
together with such aid as government sees fit to grant. 


67 


THE THARRAWADDY SCHOOL. 
REV. WM. CAREY CALDER. 


Among the Christian Karens the public school has 
always held an important place in Christian education. 
No sooner is Christianity established in a community 
than at once the leaders seem to feel the necessity of a 
school for their children, and not infrequently for the 
elder people as well; for without education the Bible 
remains a sealed book to them. No matter what the 
later motive is among those who are Christians — 
when they first accept the gospel their chief desire is 
education for ability to read God’s Word, and the more 
completely a community is cut off from the influence 
of European civilization, the more marked is this 
tendency for a Christian education on their part. 
When the Tharrawaddy portion of the Henzada field — 
left the 
older mission it necessitated an entire new plant. In 
some respects it differed very largely from.the general 
run of new fields; there was a large Christian com- 
munity already at hand, there were between five and 





following the earlier political separation 


six hundred baptized believers scattered over a wide 
extent of country, and yet one of the most accessible dis- 
tricts in Burma. The Rangoon and Prome R. R. runs 
up through the centre of the field, and from convenient 
points along this line there are good wagon roads 
running off across the plains to the mountains. Dur- 
ing the Dacoit troubles Tharrawaddy was one of the 
most disturbed districts in the whole of Burma. The 
mountains and the great forests, in some places almost 
impassable jungles, afforded shelter for the many bands 
of lawless men who for a time seemed to defy all the 
pressure the English government could bring against 
them. On one occasion a person standing on the 
steps of the courthouse in the town of Tharrawaddy 
could see the flames rising from the burning homes in 


68 


seven villages. Yet in all this confusion and plunder, 
and the bloodshed that attended them, the leaders 
among the Karens in Tharrawaddy were making plans 
for a school. 

Their reasons for separating from Henzada were 
that the older mission was large and far away; espe- 
cially was it difficult of access in the rains, when 
almost the only way to reach Henzada was the round- 
about journey through Prome or Rangoon. Most of 
the Tharrawaddy people were poor when compared 
with those in the rich rice-growing plains or timber 
districts, yet they believed in schools and had a mind 
to work. ‘They were united and self-sacrificing. 

At first they had no missionary to lead them; so 
it was decided to enlarge the school in one of the 
native villages, Tombola. It was almost entirely ver- 
nacular — only a little attempt was made in: English, 
but it was not long before they had one of the best 
native schools in Burma. ‘Their success in the ver- 
nacular only increased their desire to advance still 
higher and perfect their children in a knowledge of the 
English language. 

There are some of the native elders and a few of the 
European missionaries who still resist this tendency, 
but the history of the case generally reveals the fact 
they have had to give way — just as in this country it 
has been found that an educated man is not necessarily 
and almost all the denomina- 
tions now believe in instructing the young. 

When the missionary reached Tharrawaddy there 
yas no sentiment against education opposing him. 





an inferior workman 


The difficult question was the best place for the school. 
Sitkwin, a native town on the railroad and a few 
miles from Tombola, was chosen as temporary head- 
quarters. Finally it seemed to all that the town of 
Tharrawaddy, the government headquarters, presented 
the most advantages, and in less than a year the mis- 
sion had been granted almost eight acres of the finest 
land in the town, and all it cost the Union was about 
three dollars for stamp duties and a little patience. 


69 


As much is sometimes said about the discourtesy of 
the European officials in their dealings with the mis- 
sionaries, we should state that their conduct in this 
whole transaction, from the coolie who drove the stakes 
that marked off the and, to the chief commissioner 
who signed the deed, was characterized by the utmost 
courtesy. 

The town of Tharrawaddy is about a mile and a half 
from Thongze, where Mrs. Ingalls and Miss Evans have 
for many years labored so successfully in their mission 
for the Burmese. The new work was cordially wel- 
comed by them. 

There was now a fine tract of land in the best part 
of the town, but there was not a building on it. The 
native brethren immediately showed their deep interest 
in a practical way. Each member pledged as a con- 
tribution to the new work three rupees, a near-by 
native house was purchased for about one hundred 
dollars ; government gaye a grant of timber, the people 
did much of the work themselves, and in a short time 
there was a temporary shelter for the boys who were 
transferred from the higher classes of the Tombola 
school. 

Too much cannot be said of the executive ability of 
Thra Pho Kine, who in his management of the lads 
showed himself an ideal head master of the school. 
The native brethren have never failed in meeting one 
of their pledges towards this school. It has had the 
united support of the entire association. Since the 
coming of Miss Higby the school has been enlarged to 
include the girls who desire an education, and in every 
way seems to be doing more effective work, and this, 
too, in spite of the many drawbacks and inconyen- 
iences encountered by those who are sacrificing much 
that the work may be carried forward. 

No missionary ought to be expected to live as Miss 
Higby has been compelled to live, or else abandon a 
very successful branch of our work. It has been suffer 
or surrender. She has not surrendered, but with her. 


70 


helpers has carried the flag of our Master a little 
further into the enemy’s country. 

The history of the Tharrawaddy school is not long ; 
almost a decade of years will cover it, but the work 
already accomplished is not reckoned by time. It has 
its representatives in the college and seminary, the 
village school and the mission field. It seems to be 
an investment that will yield a hundred per cent at 
a time when one will most need the highest interest on 
one’s talents. Will you invest? 


cu 


THE SCHOOL FOR CHINS AT SANDOWAY. 
MISS MELISSA CARR. 


This school was begun in May, 1885, by Rey. and 
Mrs. W. F. Thomas, who came over to Sandoway 
from their Karen work at Henzada and remained only 
during the rainy months. The school at Sandoway 
was started with comparatively few pupils, the most 
of whom were boys, four girls only haying courage to 
attend. When Mr. and Mrs. Thomas returned to 
their Karen work, Mrs. C. B. Thomas, Mr. Thomas’s 
mother, came and took charge of the new work at 
Sandoway, and the little school grew and showed 
continual progress during the three years she was in 
charge. The Chin girls began to see that education 
was not wholly for their brothers, but for them as 
well, and even married women tried to learn to read. 

In December, 1888, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas returned 
to Sandoway from their furlough in America, accom- 
panied by Miss Aldrich, who took charge of the school 
work the following May when school opened. 

In 1890 Miss Carr joined Miss Aldrich, and that 
year school was registered under government, the aid 
given depending on the yearly examinations. Up to 
this time government had given the school a fixed 
grant, not the result of examination passes, but of a 
desire on their part to assist in the cause of education 
among backward races. 

In 1892 Miss Aldrich married Rev. E. Tribolet, of 
Bassein, and the following year Miss Carr welcomed 
Miss Lemon, and both continue in the school to the 
present, Miss Carr haying just returned from the 
United States. 

Until 1898 our school remained only fifth standard. 
No fees were charged, the support outside of America 
coming from results-grants, and gifts from the Chin 
churches brought in yearly at our Chin Association. 


72 


These contributions were never large, as all our churches 
struggle with poverty, the hillside cultivation raising 
barely food enough for themselves; but year by year, 
as the Chins learned more the value of school work, 
the gifts increased. In this year, 1898, the school 
was changed to an Anglo-vernacular, raised to seventh 
grade, and monthly fees charged, which last has 
lessened for a time the attendance of Chin pupils. 

The desire of all who have charge of the school has 
always been to furnish a strong religious training, and 
the first and best place has always been given to God’s 
Word, and no pupil, unless ill, is ever excused from 
its study. Monthly examinations are held in all the 
classes, from the little tots who have been taught Bible 
stories and Golden Texts, to the larger boys and girls 
in the gospels or epistles. 

One of our Chin girls, when asked why she did so 
well in her Bible examinations and so poorly in her 
arithmetic and other studies, said: ‘* Because I love to 
study the Bible, and I don’t love arithmetic.” Our 
school sustains a flourishing Christian Endeavor 
Society, to which some young Christians in town 
belong, and on every Wednesday evening a regular 
prayer-meeting is held. 

No regular temperance society existed until recently, 
but strong temperance principles were instilled, regular 
temperance meetings held, to which oftentimes we 
invited the public, and pledge cards distributed for 
those willing to sign. Besides the temperance society 
recently formed, an anti-tobacco and coon organization 
has been formed. 

The school compounds are not large, nor have we 
been very successful as yet in getting shade trees to 
grow. A few large beautiful ones beautify our 
grounds, but we often long for many more. Unfor- 
tunately our grounds are low and drainage very 
bad. Almost yearly our compounds are covered with 
water so that we visit each other in boats. On our 
compounds, when the water subsides, are left sand, 
mud, and rubbish of all kinds. ‘This injures the prop- 


erty and interferes often for days with our school work. 
It is a great advantage to be removed a little from the 
natives, to have the open paddy fields around us and 
the beautiful Sandoway River in front, and we would 
think our situation an ideal one were it not for these 
hindrances which we are obliged to have. 

On our compound are three buildings: the girls’ 
dormitory, built a few years since; our own home, only 
two years old, and our school-house, which is also our 
house for all religious meetings. A side road separates 
our compound from the boys’ on which is, besides their 
poor ant-eaten dormitory; a paddy bin, work shop, 
wood house, and cooking house. 

Were it not for white ants we might see an end 
sometime to repairs and new buildings here in Sando- 
way, but, as it is, repairs constantly have to be made, 
and in the near future we shall be obliged to ask our 
Board for a new boys’ dormitory. 

As we review the fifty graduates who have left us 
we can find not one of whom we are not proud. Two 
of the teachers in our school, ail the jungle teach- 
ers, two of the Bible-women and most of our Chin 
preachers, have been trained in our town school, and 
it is a pleasure to bear testimony to their earnest, 
self-denying work. One of our best Chin preachers 
came to us not only from a heathen home but from a 
heathen village, and the Master to whom he dedicated 
his life when here, he has, since his graduation from the 
Theological Seminary, been faithful in upholding in 
a lonely, heathen village. 

Many who come to us are from Christian homes, 
but from heathen homes we haye some boarders, besides 
the day pupils who are continually hearing of our 
Saviour, and from these members, almost eyery year, 
we have baptisms. 

I wish I could array before you only one of our 
classes. Jam sure you would feel as we do, that they 
represent the best that is to be found in poor, dark 
Arakan. 


THE CHIN SCHOOL AT THAYETMYO. 
MRS. B. BALDWIN. 


This school was begun soon after the Mission 
Station was opened by Rey. and Mrs. Carson in 1886. 
In May, 1888, it was registered as a government 
grant-in-aid school. All races were admitted until 
late in the year 1895, when the Director of Public 
Instruction ordered that, as it was registered as a Chin 
school, none but Chins must enjoy its privileges. This 
reduced the numbers as well as cut off the receipt of 
cash fees. 

In 1895 Rey. and Mrs. Carson returned to America, 
and the Chin work was undertaken by Rey. and Mrs. 
Baldwin. 

The school remains as it was registered, a fourth 
standard school, although it is hoped that some day 
it may be raised so that those who wish’to go farther 
in their studies can do so without going to government 
school. 

At present six of those who have finished the fourth 
standard here are attending the municipal school. One 
girl is at the Kemendine school. Others of the gradu- 
ates are teaching jungle schools or engaging in agri- 
cultural pursuits. 

Of the young men, two have graduated this year 
from the Theological Seminary; three are still there 
and another will enter when the term opens. 

The outlook at present is most encouraging. The 
pupils on the roll are of the age that promises to 
remain in school until they receive permanent good. 
There are thirty-six under instruction now. 

On an average about cighty-five per cent are 
Christians. All graduates have been Christians. 
This is the only station school for Chins on this side 
of the Yomas. There are four jungle schools and 
another is asked for. It is hoped that some of these 
may be permanent. 


=~] 
Or 


THE KACHIN SCHOOL, BHAMO. 
MISS MARGARET SUTHERLAND. 


Tt was in 1882 that the first efforts were made to 
teach the Kachins, when Mrs. Roberts began with two 
girls, teaching them Burmese spelling and reading, 
using her parlor for a school-room. Then Mr. Roberts 
built a nine-dollar school building which was used until 
the school grew too large for the building, and as the 
compound was too small for larger buildings, Mr. 
Roberts was obliged to petition King Thibaw for 
another plot of ground. He finally obtained three 
acres outside the stockade, and put up, among other 
buildings, a school-house large enough to accommodate 
fifty pupils. At this time twenty-five Kachins were 
studying Burmese. 

In December, 1884, the school was broken up by 
the sacking of the city by Chinamen. The old _ build- 
ings inside the stockade were burned, and after Mr. 
and Mrs. Roberts went to Lower Burma the new build- 
ings were burned by the Burmese. Mrs. Roberts soon 
returned to America, and Mr. Roberts came back to 
Bhamo and took up lodgings in the Shan mission house 
and started a school with seven boys. The school 
continued from May to September, 1885, when Mr. 
Roberts was ordered out of the city by the King. 

In November the English annexed Upper Burma 
and Mr. Roberts again returned to Bhamo. In 1887 
Mrs. Roberts again organized a school at the Shan 
mission house with about twenty pupils. 

In 1888 Miss E. C. Stark came and took charge of 
the school. In 1889 Miss F. D. Manning came, and 
Miss Stark soon went home on furlough, returning in 
189i. Soon after Miss Stark’s return Miss Manning 
became Mrs. Selkirk and went into the Chinese werk, 

In 1890 Mr. Roberts built the brick house on the 
present Kachin compound. During the same year, the 


(6 


school, as a third standard school, was placed under 
government. 

In 1892 Miss Smith came and was associated with 
Miss Stark for a short time. About this time Mr, 
Hanson began the writing of the language and the first 
Kachin books were printed, and the pupils were 
taught to read their own language as well as Burmese. 

In 1896 Miss Stark again returned to America, and 
Mr. Roberts took charge until after the arrival of 
Miss L. H. Eastman and Miss M. M. Sutherland in 
January, 1898. In 1898 the Normal Department was 
placed under government. 

The school now numbers about eighty pupils in seven 
standards, and the Normal Department. Six have 
been graduated, all of whom are teachers or preachers 
or both. Three others, who left the school before it 
was raised to its present grade, are stationed in villages 
as preachers and teachers. ‘Three others are head men 
in Christian villages. 

About twenty-five per cent of the pupils are Chris- 
tians, a large majority of the scholars having been in 
school only a short time. 


~I 


=I 


TELUGU AND TAMIL SCHOOLS, BURMA. 
MRS. W. F. ARMSTRONG. 


Work among Telugu and Tamil children in Burma - 
has been carried on, more or less, by the missionari« 
there from the earliest mission days. Domestic ser- 
vants in the country are almost exclusively from these 
races, and their children have been brought into Bur- 
mese and other mission schools by those who would 
not neglect the children of their own households. 
Where many have been admitted to schools from other 
races it has been found better to give them a teacher 
to themselves; in this way small schools for Telugus 
and Tamils have originated in all the larger mission 
stations. The first one to grow to any importance as 
a school was the one in Moulmein. ‘This began in 
connection with Miss Barrows’ Burmese boys’ school. 
When the numbers increased she provided them with a 
room and a Tamil Christian teacher, named Gabriel, 
who carried on a school for Telugu and Tamil boys 
and girls, which did great good as an evangelizing 
agency. In 1884 Rev. W. F. Armstrong was put in 
charge of the Telugu and Tamil work in Moulmein, 
and Miss Barrows handed over this school to Mrs. 
Armstrong’s care. About twenty-five children were 
gathered in a hired room, but this was not at all satis- 
factory. The large numbers needing the school de- 
manded a place to accommodate them and to serve as 
a chapel for the mission. Convinced of this, Mrs. 
Armstrong started a fund for what is now called the 
Mizpah Hall school-house. Others became interested, 
and considerably over one thousand rupees were 
raised towards it in Moulmein. When the case was 
stated to the Board of the Woman’s Baptist Foreign 
Missionary Society they donated two thousand rupees 
to this purpose. Government doubled the funds by 
a grant-in-aid, making in all about six thousand five 
hundred rupees, In 1887 the building was erected in 


78 


a vacant lot belonging to the Burmese girls’ school 
compound. 

Beside the numbers of children who have been 
brought to Christ in this school, the head teacher, 
Yesudas, and Vademonicum, two educated Tamil men 
who came from India to teach there have been brought 
to a fuller Christian life and baptized into the Moul- 
mein church. This school has also exerted a powerful 
influence in the community. Baptists have no mission 
among the Tamil people save this one in Burma, and 
it has been the means of bringing Bible truth to the 
notice of hundreds of Tamils who knew nothing more 
than a ‘** form of godliness without the power.” 

From the outset the aim has been to bring the children 
to a saving knowledge of Christ. In common with 
other mission schools, one hour of each day has been 
given to the study of the Bible; but in addition to 
this, class meetings for prayer have been held in order 
to bring the truth they have learned to a practical test. 
In these meetings each child is brought face to face 
with the question whether he will accept Christ as 
his Saviour; whether he will worship him and re- 
nounce his idols; whether he is merely to hear these 
things, or to do them and live by them. The aim is 
to bring each child into personal relations with the 
unseen Father, that each may not only know about 
God, but may become acquainted with him. As a 
consequence, the children have grown into a personal 
knowledge of the truth and of God; and, both in 
Moulmein and in Rangoon, when at any special time 
they as a school have been called upon to witness for 
Christ, the results have been startling. Numbers have 
felt that they knew him as their Saviour, that he had 
heard their prayers, and they were confident in their 
faith in him. 

As an instance of this, in November, 1899, a won- 
derful work of grace was manifested in Mizpah Hall 
school. Miss Ford had been laboring faithfully in 
the school for months, and felt that many of the 
children had saving faith in Christ. Mr. Armstrong 


visited the school and addressed them on personal 
religion. He concluded by asking for testimonies 
from the children. How many among them believed 
that in answer to prayer their sins had been forgiven 
and that they were accepted of God? Forty-nine 
children rose to acknowledge their faith, and nine 
others asked for prayer that they might have a like 
assurance. 

Something similar to this was a moyement in our 
Rangoon schools in 1897. Mr. Burgess, superinten- 
dent of the Indian Sunday-school Union, visited Ran- 
goon and appealed to the children to decide for Christ 
without delay. In our Tamil and Telugu schools one 
hundred and forty-eight children declared themselves 
on the Lord’s side and were formed into Christian 
Endeavor Societies, which still meet every week 
and have steadily grown in numbers and influence. 
One little fellow died when he was nine years old, 
witnessing so triumphantly to the hundreds who 
crowded to see him that all men marvelled at him. 
He had no fear of death; he was going to the Saviour 
he loved more than father or mother; and heathen who 
saw his last days were impressed with the truth of the 
gospel as no mere words had power to give. ‘* What 
hath God wrought” ! 

The Rangoon school had its rise precisely as the Moul- 
mein school had, and was formed into a separate school 
about thirty years ago. Faithful work was carried on 
by different native evangelists, especially by Harnharri, 
a Tamil Christian of much power who died there some 
ten years since. 

In 1893 Mr. Armstrong was put in charge of the 
Telugu and Tamil work throughout Burma. At that 
time the Rangoon school consisted of about eighty 
children crowded together in a native house. He 
secured Union Hall for them, commodious and well 
situated for the purpose. Miss Armstrong started a 
kindergarten department and the school grew rapidly, 
especially the kindergarten, which was made a great 
spiritual blessing to the school. 


80 


In Ahlone, a suburb of Rangoon, there lived for 
many years a Telugu Christian named Pooliah. He 
was an architect and contractor for buildings. It was 
he who put up and completed all the buildings for the 
theological seminary at Insein. He was large hearted 
and most generous with his money. Among his many 
good deeds was the founding of a Tamil and Telugu 
school near his own home. He put up on his own 
land and at his own expense a neat little chapel for 
Sunday worship, and gave the use of the building 
through the week for school purposes, providing a 
Sunday school for the children also. 

After a time this school was registered and drew a 
government grant-in-aid. The teacher was under the 
supervision of the missionary, but the building was 
owned and kept for the purpose by Pooliah. In 1898 
Pooliah died and the school-room was rented to others, 
but the school was transferred to a larger building and 
is doing good work there still. It should be noted 
that both in Union Hall and Ahlone schools, numbers 
of Mohammedan lads, speaking Hindustani, have 
sought admittance, and there are classes and teachers 
for these lads in both schools. 

In this way the gospel is gaining access to the 
Mohammedan population of Rangoon. ‘Two or three 
Mohammedan lads gave satisfactory evidence of con- 
version, and all study the Bible and are taught the way 
of salvation through Christ. 

One other feature of the work deserves mention. 
Much use is made in school and evangelistic work of 
gospel hymns. The school is systematically trained in 
the tonic sol-fa system, and draws a grant from 
government for proficiency in this branch. 

A great drawback to worship in song was the fact 
that three languages were in constant use in our ser- 
vices. In 1899 Mr. Armstrong completed a hymn 
book to meet this need. It contains translations of 
popular hymns in Tamil, Telugu, and Hindustani, so 
arranged that each can sing the same hymn to the 
same tune in their own language. One hundred and 


81 


twenty hymns in Tamil and Telugu were thus harmon- 
ized, and forty-nine of these are given also in Hindu- 
stani. 

The indices are so arranged that the number of the 

ame hymn in the three languages can be found readily, 
and all can sing together His praise whom we all wor- 
ship. It was a somewhat difficult work, but the Spirit 
who prompted the undertaking carried it to a success- 
ful issue. Blessed be His name! 

The Union Hall school has 21 teachers with 488 pu- 
pils. The Ahlone school, 6 teachers and 100 pupils. 
Mizpah Hall, Moulmein, has 8 teachers and 125 
pupils. There is also a small school at Mandalay 
with 1 teacher and 22 pupils. 


82 


THE BURMAN WOMAN’S BIBLE SCHOOL, 
RANGOON. 


MISS RUTH RANNEY. 


This school is open to women of all races who desire 
to study the Bible in Burmese. It has one session 
yearly of five months — the rainy season — continuing 
from May to October. Since the school was properly 
organized seven years ago (May, 1893), the total 
number of pupils has been seventy, of whom forty- 
six are Burmans, seventeen Sgau Karens, one Pwo 
Karen, three Bghai Karens, two Chins, and one Kachin. 
Out of the seventy, twenty-one have taken the full 
three years’ course, fourteen Burmans, six Sgaw 
Karens, one Chin. Fourteen, comprising the present 
first and second year classes, may yet finish, and of 
the remaining half twenty-five were with us but one 
term. As to the failure or success of the work, we 
feel we have abundant reason for encouragement, even 
while our hearts sorrow over some who have turned 
aside into sin. There are twenty-six of the girls who 
are Bible-women, wives of preachers or teachers, or 
teachers themselves and real helpers in the work. As 
to the manner in which the Bible-women are made use- 
ful, we find they go from house to house, where two 
are together, explain Bible texts and tracts, or, better 
still, accompany the lady missionary in her yisits and 
tours. In some places they teach the Bible classes in 
the mission school, visit the pupils in their homes, go 
with the preachers to special cases, work in connection 
with the dispensary, help the sick, and always and 
everywhere gather the children and teach them the 
gospel. Burman workers from the school have been 
or are in almost all our large centres, and the Karen 
contingent has done much in the jungle. Moulmein, 
Thaton, Sandoway, Henzada, Prome, Shwegyin, Toun- 
goo, Mciktila, Mandalay, Myingyan, and Bassein have 
had helpers, while the Karens have worked in the 





THE BURMAN WOMAN'S BIBLE SCHOOL, RANGOON. 





iy 
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i 
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83 


Toungoo Hills, Maubin, Tharrawaddy, and Rangoon 
districts. 

Seven years ago the school was supported entirely 
by mission money, and it was hard to get.the class of 
girls we wanted, even though we supported them while 
here. The average cost per year has been five hundred 
and seventy-five rupees, and the average number of 
pupils seventeen. During the last three years dona- 
tions have been given by native Christians, and we are 
happy to report that the entire sum was raised by them 
for the last session of school (1899). We trust to be 
truly self-supporting in the future. The teaching is 
done by your representatives, Misses Ranney and Phin- 
ney, with the assistance of their Burman preacher, who 
explains the tracts and teaches church history. Aside 
from this, and a half hour for singing, the entire day 
is spent in the study of different portions of the 
Bible. 

The present school is the outcome of a Bible class 
for women taught by Miss Ranney in 1889 and 1890. 
A widow, Ma Ee, was conyerted in Pantanaw and be- 
came exceedingly desirous of preaching, but was so 
ignorant of the truths of the Bible that she came to 
Rangoon with an earnest plea for teaching. Other 
women were found who wished to study with her, 
and for two rains the work was carried on, somewhat 
informally, in the house of Mrs. Bennett, with whom, 
at that time, Miss Ranney was living. Then came a 
furlough home and the return with Miss Phinney, when 
the Lord opened the way for the present work. 

For seven years there have been no proper school- 
rooms, but through the kindness of the home friends 
a suitable building is now being put up, where we trust 
the Lord may further greatly prosper this work. 


84 


THE KAREN WOMAN’S BIBLE SCHOOL, 
RANGOON. 


MISS ELIZABETH LAWRENCE, 


This school having so recently begun, not much of 
its history is yet made. 

To begin at the very beginning of such a school, 
we can go back to 1861-1862, when Mrs. Binney 
instructed a class in the Bible. Then, in 1890, at the 
Moulmein Karen Association, the women formed their 
first Woman’s Missionary Society of that district, and 
selected a committee to have charge of the business 
of finding and sending out Bible-women among the 
heathen. ‘Then was felt more especially the need of 
trained women, for the few old women available had 
but little knowledge of the Scriptures and could 
scarcely read, and the younger women, educated in 
the station school, were employed as school teachers 
and could not be spared for this special work. The 
question came up, ‘‘ Who shall go for us?” and 
‘*Whom shall we send?” Miss Lawrence, of Thaton, 
proposed that the churches should select and send 
women who wished to study for this work to her during 
the rains. But it was not till May of 1893 that a 
class of nine came with letters from their pastors to 
recommend them as suitable pupils for such a school. 

The class studied six hours a day till the first of 
October each year for three years. During the travel 
season they were engaged in teaching the Bible to the 
little ones in their village day and Sunday school, 
leading the women in prayer-meetings and mission 
circles, and going from village to village among the 
heathen with Miss Lawrence or some elderly native 
woman to bring the light of the gospel to those sitting 
in darkness. 

In October, 1895, a class of seven graduated and 
went out to work. During the three years there were 


85 


four other women and two male helpers who received a 
partial training. Of the whole number, one became 
the wife of a foreign missionary to the Shans, two 
married pastors of churches, two married Christian 
farmers, One is assistant teacher in a village school, and 
three have done good work as Bible-women. The 
young man felt that God had called him to the work of 
the ministry, and so took a course of study in the 
theological seminary at Insein, and is now pastor of 
a small church surrounded by heathen. The Thaton 
school was supported partly by American money and 
partly by the Karen Woman’s Mission Society of 
Moulmein district. 

A year or two before the Thaton Bible school opened, 
a Karen minister, teacher Shwé Tu, wrote a letter to 
Rey. D. A. W. Smith, D. D., on the importance of a 
school for Bible training for Karen women. The 
matter was talked over at the time of the jubilee of 
the Karen Theological Seminary in January, 1895, by 
several of the leaders among the people. It was sug- 
gested that teacher Brayton’s compound (the Pwo 
Karen compound) was a good place for the location, 
and Mama Rose a suitable person to have charge of 
such an institution. Teacher Pah-thay, of Moulmein, 
offered to give a dormitory. On consu!tation with her 
father and husband, Mrs. Rose drew up and sent out 
a circular ‘* To the Karen missionaries, leading pastors 
and laymen, and all interested,” asking them to express 
their opinions and make suggestions on the matter. 
She was willing and desirous of engaging in this work, 
but did not wish to do it without their approval and 
co-operation, and she thought it desirable that the 
school should be supported by the Karens themselves. 
The responses were all favorable. Just after that, 
however, Dr. Rose became so ill as to require special 
care, and Mrs. Rose gave him her undivided attention 
till God took him to the blessed home above. 

Thus two years more passed away before the way 
opened to make the beginning. Meantime the Karens 
in their different associations discussed the matter. 


86 


Some small sums of money were sent in for the object. 
Local committees were appointed to represent the work 
and raise funds for it among the churches. 

At the annual Pwo Association in Maubin, March 
13-16, 1897, the people, were .very hearty in their 
approval of the school, and resolved to give it their 
cordial support. On return of Rev. W. Bushell to 
Moulmein from this association he took word to teacher 
Pah-thay from Mrs. Rose that she was ready to begin 
the work if he would now fulfil his promise, 

The result was that Pah-thay handed a thousand 
rupees to Mr. Bushell, and asked him to come over to 
Rangoon and make arrangements for the putting up of 
the building. Karens also gave money to pay his 
passage, and he came on March 23, when a meeting 
was appointed for the 26th, in Mr. Brayton’s house, 
for consultation. A good number of missionaries as 
well as native Christians were present. 

Rey. D. L. Brayton was elected chairman, and 
teacher Zebedee secretary. After prayer Dr. Bray- 
ton said: ‘* It looks now as if God has opened the way 
for us to start the Karen woman’s Bible school. At 
least we can take one step, for our brother Pah-thay 
has sent a thousand rupees for the building of a 
dormitory. Mr. Bushell has brought the money and 
has helped us with his advice and counsel.” Mr. 
Bushell made the motion: ‘* Therefore, as God in 
his providence has opened now this one step before 
us, we should move forward and open the school this 
year.” This resolution was passed unanimously, and 
then Mis. Rose was chosen to have charge, Rey. 
Than-leza to be treasurer, and Rey. A. E. Seagrave 
banker, 

A building committee, with Mr. Seagrave as chair- 
man, was chosen, and instructions to give out the con- 
tract so the work might be done speedily. 

A committee of arrangements consisting of six 
members, including Mrs. Rose and Mrs. Vinton, was 
elected, and the vote passed that the school should 
open May 17th. The contract was given out, and the 


























THE KAREN WOMAN’S BIBLES SCHOOL, RANGOON, 


With Mrs. Rose and Miss Lawrence. 























CH 
~I 


dormitory was finished by May 1, and school opened 
at the time appointed. 

Under date of Jan. 51, 1898, Mrs. Rose wrote: 
‘* The first year of the Bible study has closed. We 
can truly sing of mercy and goodness. No serious 
sickness has interfered with the work. Funds have 
been sufficient for the board, and a little surplus in 
hand. Of the twenty-two names enrolled, only twelve 
continued to the end of the year. These have been 
faitbful and earnest in their work. We went through 
the study of the Pentateuch, but did not quite finish 
the Harmony of the Gospels.” 

The second year began May 11th, and Miss Law- 
rence returned from America on the 18th, and took the 
entrance class, leaving Mrs. Rose to go on with the 
first class. Nineteen names were enrolled, but two 
pupils were out much of the time because of sickness, 
so at the close, Feb. 2, 1899, only seventeen were 
present. Mrs. Rose wrote then: ‘+ Funds have been 
sufficient and there is still a little on hand.” 

At the beginning of the third year, May 3d, sixteen 
of the former pupils returned, and an entrance class of 
seventeen enrolled. Of the thirty-three, thirty-one 
remained through the year, and a class of nine having 
finished the course of three years received diplomas, 
Jan. 29, 1900, and have gone out to work in different 
fields. Two of these have been chosen to be teachers 
in this school, two to be missionaries in the Shan States, 
and one to the Chins in the Chindwin Valley, while the 
others find work nearer home. Three of those who had 
only a partial training married ministers. 

Eliza, an elderly Bible-woman, trained in Mrs. 
Binney’s normal class, assisted in teaching the entrance 
class for several months the last year,.and after Mrs. 
Elwell returned from Tavoy, in November, 1899, she 
rendered invaluable help in the school. 

The Karens have done well in supporting the school 
thus far, and though the third year closed with a small 
debt, it has already been cancelled and a good balance 
is in hand to begin another year, 


88 


SKETCH OF SCHOOL IN MONGNAI, SOUTH- 
ERN SHAN STATES, BURMA. 


MRS. HULDAH MIX. 


The school in Méngnai (Moné) was begun by Dr. 
and Mrs. Griggs, in February, 1892. Mrs. Griggs’ 
health soon failed and made necessary their return to 
America in the following July, and the school was left 
for several months in charge of the Shan teacher, 
whose character was not the best. Mrs. Mix came 
in March, 1893, and took charge of what was left of 
the school. Since that time it has had its ups and 
downs and has not been very encouraging some of the 
time. The people have not cared for the education of 
their children enough to pay a small fee, and have 
been so afraid of their becoming Christians that they 
preferred to have them run the streets and learn vice 
rather than be in a Christian school. But in May, 
1899, several of the children in the orpbanage being 
old enough to go into a kindergarten, and feeling the 
need of such work for theni, Mrs. Mix started one. 
Searcely any attempt has been made to induce others 
to come, but the parents are pleased with the work and 
the children are delighted to come. They seem to 
have no fear that these little ones will be contaminated 
by Christianity, so the school is quite popular and is 
growing all of the time, promising to be as large as 
can be managed with the present accommodations and 
help. Thus, quite unsought, has been pointed out a 
way to begin our mission school. ‘Through many ups 
and downs the solution has been reached. Probably 
it would not have succeeded so well if we had not had 
the orphans as a nucleus, as with their better training, 
and no outside influence to hinder, we can mould them 
to our minds and the others learn by their example. 
The day pupils also attend Sunday school, and with 
the daily Bible lesson and the singing of hymns are 
absorbing a great deal of knowledge about Christ, 


i ta me 


89 


The improvement in these little wild ones is truly 
wonderful. 

One young man who was in the school two years 
when first started has been a student for several years 
in the Rangoon Baptist College, and is now in the 
Theological Seminary at Insein. He promises to be 
a yaluable helper. ‘Two others, one of them a Chris- 
tian, are now in the Baptist College. 

Two girls who have been several years in the school 
are studying kindergarten — one at Kemendine and 
one in Moulmein. Several orphans have been received 
into the school as boarders, and nearly -all of these 
have made good progress and bid fair to be useful men 
and women. Aside from them and the children of 
Christian parents, only one has become a Christian. 

The school is held in the chapel, which has two small 
rooms forclasses. It is a plain building with a thatch 
roof, haying no beauty in itself, but is favorably situ- 
ated for the school and religious services. It is on a 
much-travelled road, on a rise of ground at the west of 
the town, and is easily reached by all of the people in 
the place. 


BEGINNINGS OF THE GIRLS’ SCHOOL IN 
NELLORE. 


MRS. LYMAN JEWETT. 


Arriving at Nellore early in 1849, within that year I 
began a boarding-school with three children, their 
mother the matron. The number increased very slowly, 
and they were often taken away to earn a few pennies, 
without a moment’s warning. -Their tidy appearance 
and learning to read counted for nothing; we were 
the ones to be grateful for having had them so long! 
It was no doubt more from this state of things than 
from work among the people that I became very ill, 
and obliged, with Mr. Jewett, to leave Nellore for 
several months. During my absence, Mr. Day, with 
all his station and village work, cared for the dear 
children who remained, with the tenderness of a mother 
as well as of a father missionary. They met me a few 
miles out on my return from Madras with tears of joy. 
Foremost among them was Julia, who had just re- 
turned to Nellore. She wept on my neck, begging 
forgiveness for leaving. Her mother, seeing that she 
was almost a Christian, had taken her to a village. 
Converts came, and with them some appreciation of a 
Christian education. Instead of the little house first 
occupied, a better one was built; Mrs. Gilmore, of 
Madras, was appointed matron. She was sueceeded 
by Julia, the first convert, who had become wife of 
Rey. N. Kanakiah, a former member of the school, 
who, with his two sisters, had been removed to another 
city. Kanakiah was the first preacher ordained in 
Nellore, a man eloquent and faithful in the work of 
building up the little church. In 1855 we greeted 
Rey. and Mrs. Douglass, our first reinforcement. 
Mrs. Douglass was very helpful, as health would 
permit, especially in the industrial department and in 
teaching English Scriptures. When, in 1862, we took 
our first furlough to America, Mrs. Douglass conducted 


91 


the schools most efficiently, while Mr. Douglass had 
charge of the increasing work of the station. He and 
Mr. Jewett had received generous responses to their 
solicitations for still further financial aid among our 
English friends. In those days of beginning it was 
impossible to give students an all-round education. I 
taught the Telugu Scriptures, making them a specialty, 
examining in other branches. Pupils who remained a 
reasonable length of time were in nearly every case 
eonyerted. We took them on tours, to help with their 
sweet singing, as well as in talking to the people. 
After preaching by the missionaries, the better students 
could teach in Sunday school and then go and work 
among idolaters. But the time came when we felt that 
Christian parents should give more for the support of 
their children than they were willing to, so we gradu- 
ally reduced the number of boarders; but there were 
some bright day scholars, and several adult converts 
were received into the classes. Thus we had a boarding 
and day school for the training of helpers. When 
new missionaries came to begin other stations, they 
took with them such of these as could be spared from 
Nellore. The older missionaries, one after another, 
were obliged to return to the home land for rest. Thus 
the schools were depleted and the work reduced when,: 
in 1874, Rev. and Mrs. Downie arrived and took 
charge of the station. 

Of day scholars, Rev. T. Rungiah married Ma 
Lutchmee, of the boarding-school. After doing good 
work in older stations, they removed to Madras, when 
Mr. Jewett was appointed there in 1878. While 
missionaries came and went, they toiled on, a bright 
example of a family all converted and at work for the 
Master. Leah married preacher C. Nursu, who was 
one of the first pupils in a village school. Rachel 
died at thirteen, asking Jesus to ‘‘ save a little place 
for her at his feet.” Later the devoted Christian 
mother was called, then a son who was head master 
in one of Miss Day’s schools. Daniel is preacher at 
Madras, and John teaches in Nellore. There were 


92 


three little boys, sons of a gentleman’s coachman, 
who attended with great regularity. One is now Rey. 
A. Subbiah, the chosen pastor of Nellore chureh; his 
brothers, A. P. Veerasawmy, evangelist, now assisting 
Dr. Boggs as he had Dr. McLaurin, in literary work ; 
and A. C. Veerasawmy, who assists the mission 
treasurer. KK. Elisabeth has the usual black eyes and 
black hair, the eyes larger and brighter than most 
others. Not unlike some of them, however, she had 
falls in the early part of her Christian life; but these 
led her closer to the Lord, and she is among the purest 
and best. After working variously, wherever needed, 
she has become a most efficient nd trusted helper in 
the new hospital at Nellore. 

Other boarders: Ruth, when called away by her 
wicked mother, said, ‘‘ Vo, these shall be my people, 
and their God my God.” She had a rich Christian 
experience. Her husband, Ezra, was a teacher; her 
work mostly in her own family. Henrietta, a hand- 
some girl, promised for ‘* temple life,” was rescued 
and supported in our schools by Judge Walker. An 
earnest Christian, she was taken from us all too soon by 
cholera. She called the heathen around to come and 
see how a Christian could die. Ellen, Elisabeth Kay, 
and Rosamond married Church of England eatechists, 
and were all efficient workers. Chinnamma, in a quiet 
way, has long been, as Mrs. Douglass remarks of Julia, 
a ‘‘standard bearer.” She is now in zenana work in 
Nellore. We took in little, wandering Seetamma, — 
not the one who came to America. In after years we 
ate rice and curry with her, her husband, son of the 
late beloved Bible-woman, Krishnalu, and their little 
children. They are active school helpers in Ramapa- 
tam. Ragamma,a day scholar, was taken from us. 
She hid her testament through several years, and came 
to us almost a Christian. We took her for a season. 
The man she married apostatized from Christianity, 
and with his friends persecuted her; but she remained 
steadfast, hoping to bring them to Christ. David was 
one of our brightest scholars. He wandered from us; 


93 


ana we feared he had apostatized. Finally he appeared 
to our missionaries in Secunderabad. Being in want 
of a teacher they tried and kept him. Under their 
training he advanced, and was ordained a gospel 
preacher. Chungamma came withus to Madras. Her 
refined and gentle manner has given her influence 
among caste women. Slie has worked faithfully in 
their zenanas through many years. Her brother, Chun- 
zaya, a most promising youth, died of cholera while 
on a tour. Honored as the oldest son, it was said that 
his father, aferwards ‘‘ good deacon Poly-appa,’’ used 
to hasten his house idols out of sight whenever he 
saw Chunzaya coming home. Our three Eurasian 
girls married, one of them a European, the other two 
men of the London mission. All of them took a. 
decided stand for Christ. Charlie, a Mohammedan 
lad, was hard and careless till about twelve years of 
age. One day, in a little school prayer-meeting, he 
wept bitterly, saying, ‘‘ All these who came here after 
me are believing, and I shall be lost.” He soon found 
peace and was baptized. In less than two years came 
his last sickness. How he suffered, and how he prayed 
for the Telugus! The adversary sought him once 
again —it was a dark hour. At last he said: ‘‘ Be- 
gone, Satan; I am redeemed by the blood of Christ, 
and will have nothing more to do with you.” The 
great tempter left him forever. Later Mr. Douglass. 
said, ‘‘ Charlie, we are all here.” He replied, ‘‘ Who 
are you? I sce the hosts of God. O Jerusalem, how 
numerous are thy gates! Which one shall I come in 
at?” Thus he went in triumph, giving new courage 
to good old Lydia and others who had never seen how 
a Christian could die. 


FITCHBURG, MASS. 


94 


THE GIRLS’ BOARDING SCHOOL, NELLORE, 
INDIA. 


MISS FRANCES TENCATE. 


From 1866 to 1872 Mrs. Jewett labored faithfully 
for the advancement of the institution, and our older 
Christians have many fond recollections of the earnest 
zeal of *‘ Mother Jewett.” In 1872 it became neces- 
sary that she should return to America, and the schools 
were left to the native teachers under the supervision 
of Dr. Jewett, until the following year when Mrs. 
Downie assumed charge. It would be a difficult task 
to tell how many years Mrs. Downie served the mission 
in this capacity, for, from time to time, when the posi- 
tion was vacated by the young women sent out by our 
Woman’s Society, the work has reverted to her, and 
she has at all times been ready to advise and help with 
the work in any possible way, when the young lady in 
charge has needed her assistance, so we might almost 
say that she is still connected with the work. 

In 1874 Miss Wood was sent out by the Woman’s 
Society of the West to assist in the boarding-school, 
but after a few months she was removed to Ongole. 

In 1878 Miss Day, daughter of Dr. S. S. Day, 
arrived in India. She devoted the first year to a 
faithful study of the language, and in 1879, Dee. 1, 
assumed charge of the schools. During the five years 
that she devoted to the work the schools made marked 
progress, and the standard was raised. Her services 
were needed elsewhere, however, consequently in 1885 
another change was made. Miss Day was removed to 
Madras to take charge of the ‘‘ caste schools ” there, 
and the Nellore schools were turned over to Miss Wayte 
(now Mrs. Phinney, of Burma). During her term 
of service special attention was given to the teaching 
of the Bible; she herself taking charge of some classes 
and supervising others. Her health demanded that she 











LD. 


HOUSE ON THE TELUGU FIE 


A SCHOOL 














CHRISTIANS EDUCATED AT NELLORE. 





THE MISSION HOUSE, NELLORE. 





95 


return to America in the spring of 1893, and Miss 
Slade, who is a trained nurse and came to assist in 
hospital work, relieved her, but in the fall of the same 
year she went to assist Mr. Brock, who, previous to 
that time, had been living a lonely bachelor’s life in 
one of our northern stations. Once more Mrs. Downie 
came to the rescue. Her time was then already occu- 
pied with the Bible work, and she was greatly relieved 
by the arrival of Miss Darmstadt, who took over the 
work Oct. 1, 1895, and who is still in charge. For 
some time she was assisted by Miss Annie Downie. 

The earliest admission register that can be found is 
that of 1882. From that date to the present (1900) 
we find that four hundred and twenty girls have been 
in attendance. The majority of these have passed 
through the standard in yogue when they were pupils. 
We can also state that the majority are nominal Chris- 
tians, and we trust that most of them are true children 
of God; but that is beyond our power to record, as 
only the Heavenly Father’s record could reveal to us 
the truth concerning them. They are scattered widely 
over the mission field and occupy a great variety of 
positions. Not all are preachers’ wives, Bible-women, 
or teachers; indeed, many are filling the most humble 
positions in life, but among our most proficient mission 
helpers we find that the former school girls are prom- 
inent. As this is history and not fiction, it is neces- 
sary to say that some few who have been promising 
students have never given their lives to God, but seeds 
of truth have been sown which will bear fruit. Only 
afew weeks ago a missionary met a woman in the 
bazaar who stated that she had been a pupil in Miss 
Day’s time, and that the truths implanted then were 
still prompting her to a surrender of her life. This is 
only one instance. Others might be cited. 

In its infancy the school was held on the veranda 
of the mission bungalow; as the number of pupils 
increased, it was removed to the chapel. At the 
beginning of 1874 there were only three girls in the 
boarding department, but there was then hardly 


96 


accommodation for a greater number. In that year 
the school was reorganized under the government 
grant-in-aid system, and the Woman’s Society of 
the East voted fifteen hundred dollars for the erection 
of a new building, which was completed and dedicated 
in Noyember of 1876. This is a pleasant building 
containing two large rooms, two class-rooms, and 
quarters for the matron. In 1896 an upper story was 
added to this building, containing three comfortable 
rooms and a large veranda, as a home for the young 
lady missionaries. From these quarters a full view of 
the girls’ dormitories and playground can easily be 
obtained, and it is possible for the missionaries to keep 
in constant touch with the children. 

As the demand has been felt, from time to time, the 
standard of the school has been raised. In 1880 a 
class took the fourth standard examination and passed 
creditably. The following year the standard was 
raised one grade higher. A number of attempts were 
made to add the sixth standard, but the pupils proved 
themselves incapable of attaining to it until 1895. 
One year later the grade was raised to the seventh 
standard, making the school a lower secondary school. 
That is the present grade. 

Probably one of the most trying steps taken by our 
missionaries has been that of asking the parents to bear 
a part of the burden of educating their children. As 
early as 1869 small fees were paid by a few of the 
parents, but the custom of paying was by no means a 
general one then, nor was it for a number of years 
later. Miss Wayte accomplished a great deal along 
this line, and Miss Darmstadt has continued the policy 
until, at the present writing, every girl from the fourth 
standard pays some fee, the rate varying with the 
standard. It has taken hours of discussion ofttimes to 
succeed in getting a parent to pay as much as four 
annas (about eight cents) a month toward his child’s 
education, but now the principle is being established, 
and it is hoped that the day will come when the school 
will be self-supporting. For a few years an industrial 


97 


school connected with the institution hemped somewhat 
in its support, but it was discontinued several years 
ago. 

There has been a boys’ boarding-school carried on 
with the girls’ school, with corresponding grades, until 
the present year, when the older boys were dismissed 
and only the primary school retained. 

This year (1900) there are fifty-eight boarders in 
our girls’ school, and among them some of the most 
promising Christian characters that have ever been 
- numbered among the girls. There have been times 
when the attendance was larger, but it is believed that 
the standard was never higher. 


98 


THE BOYS’ SCHOOL, NELLORE. 
MRS. D. DOWNIE. 
THE BEGINNING. 


Rey. Samuel Day was the founder of the Telugu 
Mission in India. When he came to Nellore in 1836 
and began work there, among the first things he did 
was to gather children from the hamlet near into a day 
school and begin to teach them. Before long one boy 
after another was taken into the compound and cared 
for as well as instructed, and this was the nucleus of 
the boys’ boarding school in Nellore. 

The work was continued by Dr. and Mrs. Jewett as 
long as they stayed in Nellore, and during their terms 
of service a goodly number of young men were taught 
and sent out as pioneers into the field. 


First Fruits. 


Rey. N. Canakiah, the first ordained preacher among 
the Telugus, was among the first boys taken into the 
school by Mr. Day. He has spent all his life in 
Nellore, has done much evangelistic work, and has been 
the every-day helper of the missionaries all his life. 
Another boy was Tupili Rungiah, who also became 
an ordained preacher and has for many years headed 
the work in Madras and been the active pastor of 
the Perambore church. Darsari Ragalu, a contem- 
porary of these two, did not receive the promotion he 
thought he deserved, and in a fit of pique he went 
over to another denomination. He is to-day one of 
the head men of the Wesleyan mission in Secunderabad, 
There were others who ran well and were gathered to 
their reward in heaven, leaving blanks in the work and 
in the hearts of the missionaries. 


A SEPARATION. 


During all these years until 1876 the boys and girls 
in Nellore studied together. The present flourishing 


99 


boys’ school grew out of the flood of 1874, which dey- 
astated the mission compound, destroying the native 
houses, and so weakening the foundations of the old 
chapel in which the school was held that it was deemed 
dangerous and had to be afterwards pulled down. 

The erection of the girls’ school building and its 
occupancy in 1876, and the formation of a separate 
school for them, necessitated a separate boys’ school. 
Hence a small building was erected to the west of the 
girls’ school, which was used by the boys until the 
number was too great for the space, and government 
insisted on larger and better accommodations. 

The Woman’s Board assumed charge of the boys’ 
school in 1884, and the beautiful new building, which 
now stands almost adjoining the girls’ school, was 
erected in 1894 and was a gift from them. 


GROWTH. 

Beginning with a few boys in 1877, the school con- 
tinued to grow in numbers and in usefulness as well. 
Among the boys in the school at first were two of the 
Veeraswamy brothers who were received as boarders 
during the famine of 1876-1878, and whose careers 
haye been so marked. The elder of the two was 
Subbiah, a sweet-faced, loving boy, who was particu- 
larly fond of Annie and Minnie, the two little girls in 
the mission bungalow, and nearly all his spare time was 
spent in playing with them. He went through the 
Nellore school and the high school in Ongole, and 
also graduated from the seminary at Ramapatam. 
He has been for nearly ten years pastor of the Nellore 
church, looked up to and revered by all. 

The other brother, A. C. Veeraswamy, was a bright, 
mischievous boy, very smart, but never bad. He is 
to-day the faithful assistant of the mission treasurer, 
his great pride being that no errors have been found in 
his accounts for many years. (See cut.) 

These two are but types of those who have passed 
through the school during the last twenty years and 
over, studying in all the seven standards, then passing 


100 


into the college at Ongole, or entering the seminary to 
prepare for the ministry. 


MANAGEMENT. 


Up to 1884 the boys’ school had been under the 
direct care of the missionary, and was usually looked 
after by the missionary’s wife; but when Miss Wayte 
took over charge of the school work in 1885, she took 
the boys’ school also, and continued to care for the 
boys as well as the girls, until her furlough in 1892, 
when Miss Slade assumed charge. She was relieved 
by the missionary’s wife in 1893, who cared for the 
work until the new lady missionary, Miss Darmstadt, 
had enough command of the language to take charge, 
which she did in 1895. Miss Downie was associated 
with her in the school work, and took special charge of 
the boys for two years. Miss Tencate is at present 
(1900) associated with Miss Darmstadt in the work, 
and was appointed, in 1899, manager of the two 
schools. 

A Necessary CHANGE. 

The school had added standards until it had risen 
from a primary school to what is known as a middle 
school, and was in a very flourishing condition, hay- 
ing forty or fifty boarders, and nearly as many day 
scholars. 

But in 1898 the buildings became once more too 
small, and several unpleasant things having happened, 
it was deemed best to cut off the higher standards and 
reduce the school to the primary standard. This step, 
though apparently the right one, was unfortunate, as 
it took away the larger boys, and as there was no 
other school to which they could be sent, it deprives 
Nellore of the only source of supply for native assist- 
ants and candidates for the ministry. The policy of 
the mission is that seminary students shall return to 
the fields from which they were sent; therefore Nellore 
will either have to beg or borrow, if it is to get any 
addition to its ministerial force. 


101 


There should be a high-grade school in some other 
part of the Nellore field. Allur would be a good place 
for such a school, and might be available for all the 
region south of Rarnapatam. 


RESULTS. 


The Nellore boys’ school has raised up and sent into 
the field a goodly number of helpers. There are few 
stations in the mission that have not been benefited 
by the work of men who got their early training in 
Nellore. It has also been the spiritual birthplace of 
scores of Telugu boys who got their first spiritual im- 
pressions while pupils in the school. Some of our 
brightest and most devoted Telugu Christians had their 
early training there. 


102 


HISTORY OF NELLORE NORMAL SCHOOL. 
MISS KATHARINE DARMSTADT. 


The Nellore Training School for Mistresses was 
established Jan. 7, 1895, by Mrs. Downie. Early in 
February Miss Darmstadt, who had reached Nellore 
only two months before, assumed charge of this new 
enterprise. Miss Downie assisted in the work, teach- 
ing drawing and singing, and continued her labors, 
adding calisthenics and kindergarten lessons, up to 
Feb. 15, 1899, when her health made it necessary to 
return to the homeland for change. The following 
October Miss Darmstadt consigned the full care of 
this interesting branch of work to her associate, Miss 
Tencate. 

The school was at first intended only to prepare 
teachers for the work in the primary grades of our 
boarding and village schools, but three years later, as 
lower secondary pupils asked for training, it was 
recognized in January, 1898, as a lower secondary 
and primary training school. 

The normal has two distinct departments, that of 
the training class proper, and a school for practice in 
which the students put in use their daily lectures on 
methods. The work taken up by the normal students 
is methods of teaching, model and criticism lessons, 
drawing, singing, calisthenics and kindergarten les- 
sons. The school of practice, composed of the infants 
and first three standards or grades, have English and 
Telugu, arithmetic, a little grammar, object lessons, 
and kindergarten occupations, with songs, ete.; Bible 
is a compulsory subject in all schools. 

On the recommendation Of the Assistant Inspector 
of Schools, Mr. Ramakrishnamachari, a teacher in the 
Ongole College, was called to the head mastership and 
has retained his position to the present time. As 
assistant we have had various lower secondary teachers, 


103 


and at present one of the class of 1895 has. by 
private study, qualified herself for this position. 

The first class was made up of nine girls, three of 
whom had previously taught in our girls’ boarding 
school, but being unqualified, according to the require- 
ments of government, to hold their positions, it was 
thought best that they should take the training. As 
the course is only one year, five classes or forty-five 
girls have been graduated, eight girls —two lower 
secondary and six primary students — being in the 
present class. Two others entered the school, but 
one, because of misconduct, was expelled after four 
months’ work; the other, a lower secondary student, 
who gaye great promise of being a splendid helper, 
was taken from us by death just one month before 
completing her year’s work. Of those who have gone 
out nearly all can be traced to their present positions. 
Two of the number have been called home by our 
Heavenly Father. Those remaining are widely scat- 
tered, being in twelve different fields besides our 
own, viz.: Madras, Masulipatam, Ongole, Udayagiri, 
Kanigiri, Allur, Kavali, Ramapatam, Deccan, Gudur, 
Canadian Mission, and Vinukonda. Many have 
married, and, after completing their two years of 
required teaching, some have given up entirely the 
work in the school-room to look after their households 
and family cares. Two have gone into Bible work, 
three or four have not yet secured positions and are 
at home, while the others are doing helpful work in the 
various mission schools. 

Heretofore our students have all been Christians, 
but the present class has two Sudra girls from the 
Nellore town. Our chief object is to qualify Christian 
teachers for usefulness in the work of education among 
their own people, and fit them for helpers in the 
mission, Bible, and school work. 

The expenses of the institution have been met by 
the salary grants from government, tuition of students, 
and an appropriation from the Woman’s Baptist 
Foreign Missionary Society. Three years ago the 


104 


Young People’s Society of Christian Endeavor of the 
First Church, Waterbury, Conn., lifted this burden 
from the shoulders of the society by assuming its full 
support, and have by their interest, off expressed 
sympathy, and kindly thought, lightened the burdens 
of those in charge here in India. Each primary 
student draws a monthly stipend from government of 
Rs. 5, to defray all expenses of board, clothing, books, 
and tuition. The lower secondary students receive 
Rs. 7, 8 annas each. This year we were enabled to 
ask for a two-thirds reduction in the home allowance, 
and receive just $30 instead of $90, as heretofore. 

The school occupies the ‘* William Bucknell Memo- 
rial”’ building, which was erected in part with this pur- 
pose in view. Forseveral years a flourishing industrial 
enterprise was carried on within its walls, but was 
obliged to be abandoned for want of some one to 
superintend the work. ‘There are two large, well- 
ventilated rooms, with broad yerandas around sides 
and front. At first the normal and practising schools 
occupied one of the rooms and veranda, but when 
raised to a lower secondary school more space was 
needed, and the whole building was given up to the 
school. The ages of the students under training have 
been from fifteen to twenty-eight years, though the 
average age is about eighteen years. Some of our 
girls who have taken primary training, anxious for 
improvement, have by private study successfully 
passed the lower secondary examination, thus being 
granted full privileges of a lower secondary trained 
teacher. 


HISTORY OF THE RAMAPATAM MISSION 
SCHOOL. 


MRS. LYDIA H. HEINRICHS. 


The boarding and day school at Ramapatam was 
organized in February, 1874, by Miss L. Peabody, 
who came to India with the understanding and firm 
conviction that her work must be for the women and 
girls of this country. She says: ‘*I had been in 
India but a few weeks before I was led to feel the 
importance of directing my efforts for the most part, 
at least, to the education of Christian girls; an educa- 
tion that would fit them for positions of influence as 
teachers and wives of native pastors, and it seems to 
me this could be done only by gathering them into a 
boarding school.” 

The school was started with but six girls, who lived 
and studied in Miss Peabody’s home. A school-house 
was erected, and in July, 1875, was occupied for the 
first time, the school having grown to fifteen boarding 
and eleven day pupils. It continued to prosper under 
Miss Peabody’s able management until August, 1877, 
when her marriage to Rey. Mr. Pearce compelled her 
to relinquish the care of the school. During her service 
of six years at Ramapatam, four of which had been 
largely given to school work, Miss Peabody sent out 
a number of well equipped Christian girls, who had 
become teachers and Bible-women in their villages, 
and lights to dispel the dense darkness of heathenism. 
Dear old Krishnalamab, of Nellore, was Miss Pea- 
body’s able assistant, and matron of the school. She 
also did Bible work and preaching in the villages. 
During the famine of 1876-1877, Krishnalamah 
became much interested in the Yanadis, a strolling 
people who are classed by government as ‘* profes- 
sional thieves.” Coming to Miss Peabody one day, 
she told of the sufferings of the Yanadis then in 
-Ramapatam, and-begged that something be done for 


106 


them. Miss Peabody had been attracted by the sweet 
face of a child she had seen with them, and so gave 
Krishnalamah permission to bring the child into the 
school if the parents would consent. Hunger and 
want made them willing to give her up, and so the first 
Yanadi cnild came into the Ramapatam school. Later 
on the parents of the child were converted, and old 
Kistayah is now the peddah (elder) of the Yaniadi 
Christian settlement at Ramapatam. The child, Grace, 
became the wife of one E.. Benjamin, a Yanadi 
preacher from Ongole, who has been a power for good 
amongst his people. Their two sons are now in our 
boarding school, and are quite the brightest boys we 
have. Has not Miss Peabody’s call to work for girls 
and women proven itself herein as being from God? 

Upon Miss Peabody’s marriage and departure from 
this station, Mrs. A. A. Newhall assumed charge of 
the work. After a few months of loving care of her 
new charge she was called to her heavenly home. 
A school for boys having been begun, Mr. Newhall 
soon found it expedient to combine the class work of | 
the boys and girls. After several years, eight couples 
from the school were married and put in charge of 
village schools, receiving support from their own 
people. In 1879 Mr. Newhall was compelled, by 
failing health, to return to America, and Dr. R. R. 
Williams, president of the seminary, assumed charge 
of the school. Under the new management the school 
increased largely in numbers, seventy-eight pupils being 
reported in 1880, many of whom were married couples 
fitting themselves for village school work. 

In 1881 Dr. Williams returned to America and 
Dr. Boggs took charge of the Ramapatam field and 
seminary. For fourteen years the work was alter- 
nately cared for by Drs. Williams and Boggs. The 
school continued to prosper though. decreased some- 
what in numbers. In 1891 a new and commodious 
school-house was erected by Dr. Boggs and his son, 
Mr. W. E. Boggs. 

In July, 1895, Rev. J. Heinrichs was called from 


107 


Vinukonda to the work at Ramapatam, and the writer 
assumed charge of the mission and boarding school. 

At this time seventeen boys and thirteen girls con- 
stituted the boarding department, with an attendance 
of sixty-four in the day school. Having left a large 
school at Vinukonda, this seemed to us rather a small 
affair. After becoming acquainted. however, with the 
bright, intelligent boys and girls here, we decided that 
we possessed in quality what we lacked in numbers, 
for never a school had a nicer lot of boys and girls 
than were these. In September sickness compelled 
me to lay aside the‘work, and Miss Mary Faye came 
to our assistance from Nellore. Four months she 
gave her loving care and attention to the school, and it 
was with deep regret that we and our people saw her 
return to her work at Nellore. 

In 1897 five girls and six boys, having passed the 
fifth grade examination, to which standard the school 
had been raised the previous year, were sent to higher 
schools for further training. One especially lovely 
girl afterward became the wife of Mr. V. Jakobu, a 
former pupil in this mission school, later a graduate of 
the seminary and now a newly appointed professor in 
the seminary. 

Soon after assuming charge of the school we felt 
impelled to continue our work — begun at Vinukonda 
—of collecting fees from the children of the boarding- 
school. This caused some dissatisfaction, especially 
as we were taking in, free of charge, a number of 
Yanadi children, a depressed, poor and wild class, 
whom we were anxious to win. But the Telugus are a 
willing and sensible people despite their great poverty, 
and soon we were collecting a fair sum in monthly fees. 

In 1898, after nearly nine years of uninterrupted 
work, we were compelled to go to America for rest, and 
the school was placed in charge of Mrs. W. L. Fergu- 
son, who gave it her care until February, 1899, when 
other work necessitated the sending of the boarding- 
school children to Nellore. Upon our return after 
eighteen months’ furlough, I resumed the charge of 


108 


the school, and soon after, much to the joy of pupils 
and parents, recalled the children to their own mission 
school. At present we have but twenty boarding 
pupils, cleven of whom are Yanadis. We might have 
several hundred boarders had we the funds with which 
to support the many who apply for admission. In 
time of famine like this. however, it is hard to 
discriminate between those who are worthy and un- 
worthy of admittance, hence it has seemed best to us 
to admit none until the new term in June. We haye 
at present a total attendance of fifty-eight cbildren in 
the school. English is taught to the third, fourth, and 
fifth grades. We have three Mohammedan and one 
Sudra boy in the day school, and four more from a 
home where the father is a Christian and the mother 
a Hindu, bitterly opposed to Christianity. The eldest 
boy from this family is, we believe, converted and 
ready to put on Christ in baptism. Four others from 
the school were baptized last month. 

Since our return I have been enabled to give much 
of my time to the school work, the good results of which 
Iam already permitted to see. G. Samuel, himself 
once a pupil in this school, has been for eighteen 
years its faithful head master, and bids fair to con- 
tinue for eighteen more. 

A large proportion of the school children have con- 
stituted themselves a Christian Endeavor Society, and 
every Sunday gather here at the bungalow for a 
genuinely good meeting. They are enthusiastic young 
endeavorers —all poor, very poor children, yet unself- 
ishly bringing each Sunday a goodly portion of grain — 
often too sadly needed for their own food —to be 
given to those who are still poorer. Herein are they 
learning the blessed lesson of giving. Good seed is 
being sown here, which must surely bring forth good 
fruit. 

Since the opening of the Ramapatam mission school 
twenty-six years ago, about five hundred and _ fifty 
pupils have studied here. Five have studied up to, 
but not passed, the matriculation. Fourteen have 


109 


studied in the Ongole College. Seven have been 
trained as teachers. Two have passed the special 
upper primary. Thirty-five have become village 
school teachers, and twenty-five became preachers 
and Bible-women. Many have died, while many 
more who did not become mission workers have 
been better men and women because of the time 
spent here. 


110 


HISTORY OF THE CUMBUM BOARDING-— 
SCHOOL. 


REV. JOHN NEWCOMB. 


The school was established as a primary school by 
Mrs. W. B. Boggs in 1883. Mrs. Newcomb suc- 
ceeded Mrs. Boggs when the latter went on furlough 
in 1886. Mrs. Newcomb has been in continuous 
charge of the school since then, except during her 
furlough for eighteen months, 1892-93, when Misses 
Bergman and Skinner and Mrs. W. E. Boggs had 
charge of it. Later Miss Bergman also had temporary 
charge of the school for one year. 

The school has grown from a lower primary into two 
higher grade schools, the upper primary and lower 
secondary or middle school. The first of these affords 
five years study and the latter three years more, making 
eight years in all, when the successful pupils pass to 
college at Ongole. It will be seen from the last report 
of the schools that the infant and first standards have 
been done away with, and it is proposed to drop the 
second standard next year, leaving only third and 
fourth standards in upper primary school. The present 
strength of the schools is: Upper primary, 63 boys, 
17 girls; lower secondary or middle school, 47 boys, 
17 girls; the total for both schools being 144. Of 
these forty-one are Hindus and Mohammedans. All 
are boys except one solitary little Hindu girl, the 
daughter of the head man or the village magistrate of 
Somararapupet. Without being solicited he brought 
her and her brother to school about a year ago. All 
the Hindu and Mohammedan pupils are day scholars. 
In prosperous times the strength of the schools is 
larger. The pupils, except the Hindus and Moham- 
medans, are from the lowest classes, but their souls 
are just as precious in the Lord's sight. 

Most of these who have graduated from the school 


111 


can be traced. Many of them are engaged as school 
teachers and village pastors, others have graduated 
from the Theological Seminary and are now employed 
as preachers, a few are in government employ, while 
one is completing a course in smithing and carpentry 
at Nazareth, S. I., and a few others have returned to 
their homes to follow the vocations of their fathers, as 
shoemakers, weavers, and traders. 

The primary school building is called the ‘‘ Carey 
Centennial Memorial,” the money being raised and 
appropriated for it during our furlough in 1892. The 
lower secondary or middle school, having no building, 
is held in the church, where both schools meet every 
morning for Bible study and prayers. 

The Hindu and Mohammedan pupils all take part in 
the Bible study, and recite verses of Scripture like the 
Christian boys and girls, and sit side by side with 
them. 


112 


THE MADRAS BOARDING AND DAY 
SCHOOLS. 


REV. ARTHUR CURTIS. 


The school was started in 1880 by Mrs. Jewett and 
had one pupil. That pupil is now one of our trained 
Christian teachers. From Vepery, where it was 
started, it was transferred to Perambore when Mr. and 
Mrs. Waterbury came to live there. The boarding 
department has never been large. A number of boys 
who attended this school some years ago are now 
studying at the college at Ongole and one has passed 
his matriculation examination. All of these boys are 
good Christians and will be ready in due time to 
become pillars in our mission. We now have eleven 
boys at the college. 

About three years ago we consolidated with this 
boarding-school one of our day schools which was 
being carried on in Chucklipalam, a neighboring hamlet. 
This consolidation was a great improvement, for now 
in one building we have a first-class school of the 
upper pritmary grade and there are now sixty-four 
pupils. The school building is really the dormitory of 
the boarding department, but as we have no school 
building we are using this dormitory as such. Four 
classes meet in this building and the infant class is 
carried on in a small room at the back of our chapel. 
The dormitory is a hollow square, consequently the 
rooms about the open centre are well lighted and airy. 
It is located in one corner of our compound (yard) and 
is built of brick. The day scholars are nearly all 
heathen children while the boarding scholars are either 
Christians themselves or children of Christian parents. 
We have four teachers in this school, three of whom 
are Christians and members of our Perambore church. 

The school at Boyapalem was started by Dr. Jewett 
in 1881. Its location is strategie for a school, as it is 
situated between a line of sepoy barracks and a 




















HIGH CASTE HINDU GIRLS. 




















113 


~.bazaar. The building is very shabby. We are look- 
ing for a more suitable building, but a house with 
suitable location and low rent is not easily to be found, 
The children number sixty-three and the school is very 
thrifty. As the building is not nearly large enough, 
two classes are held on an adjoining veranda, and we 
have put up mats to shield the children from the sun. 
We haye two teachers here, both Christians. With one 
or two exceptions the scholars are all heathen. It is 
a lower primary school, and the children who finish 
here are urged to join the fourth standard class in our 
boarding and day school. The building in which the 
school is being held was rented by Mr. Waterbury for 
a preaching hall. It was used for a time thus, but 
when we came here in 1895, one of our preachers was 
living there and finally we placed the school there. 

The school at Kaida, a village about twenty-five 
miles from here, was opened by Dr. Jewett in 1884. 
This school has not flourished very well. The village 
is small and there are but very few families living 
there and the people are poor. They work out in the 
fields, and as soon as a child is of school age he is 
old enough to earn a little money by working in the 
fields or tending cattle ; consequently the parents prefer 
that he should earn his pittance than that he should 
waste his time in school. This is a lower primary 
school and has been having six or eight scholars. 
However, the Kaida people are awaking and are prom- 
ising to send more children. The school building is 
of mud and the roof is of leaves and grass. 

The school at Otary was established in 1884 by Mr. 
Waterbury. We have been told that the people 
greatly opposed the idea of haying a Christian school 
in their midst, and consequently vehemently assailed 
Mr. Waterbury and Rungiah with stones one day 
when they had been visiting this school. Now the 
people do not object to the school, but they are more 
anxious to have their children earn money than attend 
school. Still, there are forty-five children in attendance 
and the school is doing excellent work. It also is of 


114 


the lower primary grade. Both teachers are Christians, 
but the pupils are all heathen. As the Bible is taught 
faithfully in all of our schools every school day, and on 
Sundays, we hope and. pray that these heathen children 
may sometime become Christians. The school build- 
ing is of mud covered with a tile roof. It consists of 
one long room with a dirt floor, and a blackboard 
serves as a partition between the two upper and two 
lower classes. As at Boyapalem, so also the scholars 
of this school who finish the third standard are urged 
to come for their fourth standard to our boarding and 
day school. 

The school at Moolakotram was started in 1879 by 
the Jewetts. It has been under Miss Kurtz’s super- 
vision for the past few years, and was raised by her 
from the lower primary to the upper primary grade. 
The school numbers twenty-six scholars, and the 
teacher in charge is one of the little boys whom Mrs. 
Jewett had as her first pupils. He is a good Christian 
man and has recently been married. The scholars are 
all heathen, I believe. The house is of mud and 
covered with thatch. 

The Konditope school was started in 1880 or 1881 
by Dr. Jewett. After a time it was given up, then 
re-started by Mr. Waterbury. After his death it was 
discontinued until Mr. Hadley came, when it was again 
started. From this time it has gone on and is now an 
upper primary school. There are thirty-six scholars, 
all heathen, but both teachers are Christians. The 
house is of brick with a tile roof. 

With all the foregoing schools, the names of the 
Jewetts, Waterburys, Drakes, Hadleys, and Guernseys 
are more or less intimately associated. 

The Hospital Lines School is situated near the 
lunatic asylum, and is among a class of people who 
are city scavengers. There is no school building, but 
the school is being held in the shade of a building, and 
for a time was held under a tree. It was started in 
September, 1899, by one of our Christians, but as he 
could not keep on with it, from financial reasons, we 


115 


took the school. There are about twelve children in 
attendance, all heathen. We hope to find a room 
somewhere where the school may be held more 
satisfactorily. 

At Sotumparembettu, about twelve miles from here, 
a school was opened about two years ago. At that 
time the village was entirely heathen, but they kept 
asking for a Christian teacher. We had no worker 
who was willing to go out there, so the call was in vain 
for some time. Finally one day, a young Christian 
fellow came to us and asked for work. He was from 
one of our up-country stations. We told him that we 
had no place except this place in the heathen village of 
Sotumparembettu. He said at once that he would go; 
but we told him that he must first go out to the village, 
see the people, talk with them, and then give his 
decision. So he went and came back full of enthu- 
siasm. We appointed him as teacher and he took his 
family out there with him. A good work has been 
earried on, a little school of ten or twelve children is 
flourishing, and through this teacher’s influence three 
men, heads of families, have become converted and 
baptized. The people, with but very little financial 
help from us, have erected two houses, one for the 
teacher and one for the school, and are very happy and 
proud over their work. The houses are of mud with 
thatch roofs. The people seem to be so much inter- 
ested in all the Christian work being done among them. 
The children are being well taught -in the Scriptures 
and can sing some of our Christian hymns. Who can 
say that Christian schools are not doing evangelistic 
work ? 


116 


THE VINUKONDA BOARDING-SCHOOL. 
MISS F. KURTZ. 


The history of any boarding-school is involved, 
more or less, with that of its station, as schools 
usually follow in the wake of a missionary opening a 
new station. This is certainly true of Vinukonda, for 
when Mr. and Mrs. Thomssen came to Vinukonda to 
open this station in 1883, it was not long before a 
school followed for the education of Christian children. 
Starting at first as a day school, a boarding depart- 
ment was added, the girls occupying a house which is 
now used as servants’ quarters, and a dormitory for 
the boys was built by Mr. Thomssen, and is used 
for that purpose at the present time. Upon Mr. 
‘Thomssen’s departure for America in 1886, the board- 
ing department was, of course, discontinued, but the 
teachers, T. Jacob, who is now pastor of the Vinu- 
konda church, and his wife Maria, carried on the 
school as a day school until the coming of Mr. and 
Mrs. Heinrichs to this station in 1892. One of the 
pupils of this early school was an old Sudra woman 
named Polammah, a new convert from heathenism. 
Having a strong desire to be able to read her Bible, 
she began to learn her letters after she was forty years 


old, and as soon as she could read she went from 


village to village proclaiming the gospel, till she 
became too old to travel about. She is now the 
efficient and faithful matron for our boarding-school 
girls. 

With the coming of Mr. and Mrs. Heinrichs to take 
charge of Vinukonda dates the beginning of the present 
boarding-school, although it was not until nearly a 
year later that the school was really opened. Soon 
after Mr. Heinrichs came here the people began to 
beg for a boarding-school for their children. They 
were told that if they were willing to help bear the 


117 


expense a school would be opened; but this, to them, 
entirely new idea did not find favor at first. As the 
missionary insisted that without fees there would be 
no school, the village elders sat under the trees in the 
compound debating the question for two days. At 
last, as the missionary still remained obdurate, they 
offered to pay two annas (about four cents) per 
month, which magnificent offer was promptly rejected. 
This sum was gradually increased until they consented 
to pay eight annas a month. This was accepted and 
they were promised that a school would be opened on 
July 12, 1893. Preparations for this event were at 
once begun by the building of a dormitory for the 
girls, the boys’ house repaired, a new house built for 
the teachers, and clothing for about sixty children was 
provided. 

On the morning of the 12th of July the people 
began to come into the compound, bringing their 
children, until « large number had gathered. Then 
began the sifting process, which took all day. At last, 
after all had been examined, about sixty of the 
brightest and most intelligent were selected and the 
rest sent home. Cleansing operations followed, and 
under Mrs. Heinrichs’ vigorous direction, the children 
were scrubbed and combed as they had never been 
before, and sixty clean boys and girls were arrayed in 
their. new clothes, — decently clothed for the first time 
in their lives. At first the children were wild and 
unruly, and did not take kindly to the discipline of the 
school, but after three months of kind but firm treat- 
ment they had settled down earnestly to the work of 
theschool. That the hard work and earnest efforts of 
Mr. and Mrs. Heinrichs had not been in vain was 
evident when, at the end of the first year, nineteen of 
these children had given their hearts to Christ and 
were buried with him in baptism. At the dedication 
of the chapel, in January, 1895, these same ‘*‘ children 
of the jungle” were pronounced by the missionaries 
present to be the ‘‘ banner singers of the mission.” 
One of the applicants for admission into this new 


118 


school was a young Sudra, who had just been ** born 
again’? from heathen darkness, and whose heart was 
aflame with a desire to preach the gospel to his own 
people. He came with his wife and begged to be 
admitted into the school. Reluctant to admit so old a 
pupil into the infant class, for he knew not a letter, 
Mr. Heinrichs offered so low a sum for his support 
that he was sure it would be refused. To his surprise 
the offer was gratefully accepted, and from that day 
this young man and his wife could be seen daily sitting 
on the ground writing their letters in the sand with the 
little children. The progress of this young man was 
very rapid, and in less than five years he had gradu- 
ated from the boarding-school and entered the Theo- 
logical Seminary at Ramapatam, and is now preaching 
the gospel on this field. 

The first teachers in this school were T. Jacob and 
his faithful wife, who has since gone to her reward. 
These two, with the help of a third teacher, B. Joshua, 
continued to teach until the coming, in January, 1894, 
of G. Paul and his wife, Gurrammah, both trained 
workers from Ongole, who have been with us ever 
since. During the first two years little trouble was 
experienced in collecting the fees, but with the begin- 
ning of hard times began our difficulties with the fees. 
The amount of the fee was reduced to four annas per 
month, but the fee system has been persisted in, as 
we believe the people value most what they have to 
pay for, and in spite of the reduced fee the amount 
collected has steadily increased year by year. In July, 
1895, Rey. F. Kurtz, the present missionary, was 
appointed to take charge of Vinukonda, left vacant by 
the transferring of Mr. Heinrichs to Ramapatam, to 
take charge of the seminary. With the reduction of 
the appropriation from the Board, the size of the school 
was reduced to about forty boarders, and it has main- 
tained this average ever since. With but three excep- 
tions our pupils have always been of the lowest caste, 
their ages ranging from ten to sixteen years. The 
girls are required to do their own cooking, bring their 


119 


own wood and water, keep their dormitory clean, make 
and mend their own clothes, mend those of the boys, 
and keep the chapel and its surroundings clean. The 
boys’ work is similar to that of the girls, with the 
exception of sewing; but they must work an hour on 
the compound every day after school hours. Since its 
beginning in 1893 seventy-two pupils have been bap- 
tized, forty-four have passed the fourth standard, the 
highest standard taught until 1896, when a fifth class 
was added and the school raised to the grade of a 
lower secondary; since which time fifteen have passed 
this standard. Of those who have graduated from 
our school, fourteen are at present teachers on this 
field, fourteen have entered institutions for higher 
education, one is studying in the seminary at Rama- 
patam as the wife of one of our most promising young 
preachers. Four have recently emigrated to Natal, 
two have entered the Arcot Industrial School, one has 
died, and one is an evangelist on this field, while those 
remaining are doing good Christian work in their own 
villages. 


120 


THE SCHOOL AT SECUNDERABAD. 


The Secunderabad boarding-school was opened by 
Mrs. Lydia M. Campbell, wife of Rev. W. W. 
Campbell, soon after the opening of the mission in 
that city in 1875. As it was a pioneer work, the 
beginnings were small. Mrs. Campbell says : — 

‘* I first opened a day school, and secured the children 
for that school by going out into the streets,-and to 
the homes of the women and asking them to send their 
children to my school. Many boys and girls came ; 
among them some caste boys, who wanted an educa- 
tion in English to fit them for some employment under 
the English government. One morning, I remember, 
sixteen or seventeen of the children were absent. I 
inquired the reason. They told me that the head man of 
the village had told them they must not attend my 
school; that I taught a different religion from their 
religion and he didn’t wish them to hear about it. I 
sent the native helpers, who went with us from the 
Ongole field, and I went myself. We tried to get them 
to come back, but they never came; but as long as I 
was able to superintend the school it numbered about 
forty. When I opened the boarding-school the first 
to come were two little brothers. Later an older 
brother came into the mission and he was admitted 
into the school. It is a very common thing for the 
parents in India to name their children for some 
heathen god or goddess, and these three little boys 
each bore the name of a heathen god. They often 
asked me to change their names as they were Christian 
boys and they wanted Christian names. We con- 
sidered the matter, and called them Peter, James, 
and John. Little John, or Yohon, was one day very 
suddenly taken ill with cholera. 

‘* Mr. Campbell went out many times in the night 
to give him medicine and to take care of him. In 


- > ~~ 


121 


the morning he was worse. We thought it best 
to send him to the hospital, as there was one there, 
superintended by an English physician. They brought 
him out of his room. He was lying upon a cot in 
the yard, and I said to myself, ‘If .Mr. Campbell 
were not here, it would be my duty to take care of 
that little-boy, and I won’t be afraid of cholera.’ I 
went out into the yard and stood by his side, and I 
said to him, ‘ Little Yohon, are you sick?’ He said 
no, he wasn’t sick. He was too ill to realize the con- 
dition he was in. He feebly put his hand upon his 
chest, and he said he felt a little strange here, and that 
was all. JI told him they were going to take him to 
the hospital, and I hoped he would be well again and 
come back to us. They took him to the hospital; in 
the afternoon he grew suddenly worse. His brothers 
were standing by his side, and suddenly he said, 
pointing upward, ‘ Look, look! there is Jesus; he is 
coming for me!’ He threw himself forward as if he 
were going to meet him, and he fell backward dead. 
I believe the little boy is safe in the glory land. He 
often told me he was a Christian We tried to save 
these boys and girls for Christ. 

‘« T taught the boys in my school to give up the use 
of tobacco, and at one time there was not a boy who 
used it.” 

(Mrs. Trmpany sends the account from May,1894.) 

In May, 1894, owing to the failure of Mrs. Maples- 
den’s health, Mr. and Mrs. Maplesden, who had been 
in charge for several years, were obliged to return to 
America. Dr. and Mrs. Timpany were invited to move 
to Secunderabad, and Mrs. Timpany assumed the over- 
sight of the school. At this time there were between 
thirty and thirty-five boarders in the school, including 
both boys and girls, and the school was a lower pri- 
mary vernacular school. Three or four boys whose 
parents especially desired them to study English were 
sent as day scholars to other schools near. 

After a few months a change of teachers became 
necessary and a trained teacher was secured from 


122 


Ongole, who, assisted by his wife, also a trained 
teacher, assumed the entire work of teaching the 
pupils. The boys attending other schools were with- 
drawn and English was taught in our own school, the 
course of study being made equal to that of the goy- 
ernment schools of the same standard. 

At the beginning of the next year, January, 1895, the 
missionaries began to feel that the parents should 
assume some responsibility in regard to the cost of 
educating their children. As the school belongs to 
two fields, Secunderabad and Hanamakonda, no impor- 
tant steps are taken without the concurrence of the 
missionaries on both fields. The Hanamakonda mis- 
sionaries, Mr. and Mrs. Beebe, were. heartily in 
sympathy with the proposal, and a schedule of fees 
was drawn up, the amounts being based on the 
income of the parents. This innoyation was at first 
strongly opposed by most of the parents, some even 
withdrawing their children rather than pay the small 
fee, even though well able to pay it. However, the rule 
was enforced, and the fees though small have been a 
material help to the school, One man who withdrew 
four children has since come to see the folly of his 
action and sent the youngest of the four for one year 
to a mission day school near, so that she might pass 
her examination and enter the next higher standard. 
In January, 1900, after five years, he requested that 
she be allowed to return to the boarding-school, cheer- 
fully paying three times the amount monthly that he had 
refused to pay for her when withdrawing her in 1895. 

Notwithstanding the fees, the school has increased 
in numbers year by year, and we believe has been 
more appreciated than when it was free. The Telugus, 
as well as other people, appreciate most, the things 
which cost them something. 

In the autumn of 1895 Dr. and Mrs. Boggs returned 
to India, settling in Secunderabad, and Mrs. Timpany 
gave the school work over to Mrs. Boggs, and soon 
after Dr. and Mrs. Timpany returned to their old 
station, Hanamakonda. 


123 


In 1896, on invitation from Mrs. Boggs, Miss 
Pinney came to Secunderabad to care for this depart- 
ment of the work. Miss Pinney was sent out in 1893 
by the Western Board, and as the school was part of 
the work of the Eastern Board, her services have been 
loaned to the Eastern Board since 1896, thus paying 
her salary. The school is still under her care. 
Since she came the work has been pushed steadily 
forward, the standard of the school has been raised, 
and grand work is being done. Owing to lack of 
funds to pay a matriculate teacher, the school has 
been able to teach only as far as the end of the first 
year of middle school, but students who need to go 
further are retained as boarders, and sent as day 
scholars to other schools. In this way one girl 
from our school passed the middle school exami- 
nation last year, and several others, both boys and 
girls, are studying for that examination this year. 

As the past five years have been years of steady 
rise in the standard of the school, the students have, 
for the most part, been retained. Previous to this 
period, those sent out were from the primary depart- 
ment, and many of them went to other schools in other 
parts of the mission. A few of our preachers, and 
many preachers’ wives, received their primary educa- 
tion in this school. One of the former students is 
now studying with her husband in the seminary, and 
doing very creditable work. Of the students who have 
gone out recently, since the standard has been raised, 
two are now eflicient teachers in the same school. Two 
others haye passed out this year and taken positions 
as teachers at Hanamakonda. One girl with some 
industrial training now supports herself with needle- 
work and lace making. Another, who left school a year 
ago, has supported herself with needlework and ayah 
work. The school has now reached a position where 
a class can be sent out annually, fitted for work or 
entrance into training schools. 

At present the school contains about fifty children, 
all from Christian homes. Under Miss Pinney’s 


124 


supervision the Bible is given an important place in 
the course of study, and much attention, thought, and 
prayer is given to the building up of character. Most 
of the Bible classes are personally conducted by her. 
The two classes attending more advanced schools have 
their regular courses of Bible study with her. One of 
the drawbacks to the school is lack of proper class rooms. 
This need is at present met by the temporary use of 
an unused bungalow, but as this will be needed after a 
few months, a school-room is greatly needed. As this 
school is a centre for the advanced pupils from all our 
Deccan schools, it seems fitting that it should be 
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125 


THE TURA TRAINING SCHOOL. 
REV. E. G. PHILLIPS. 


The importance of the training school in carrying on 
such a work as that centred at Tura can hardly be 
overestimated. Here we have a tribe of one hundred 
and thirty thousand, the great part of which is min- 
istered to from Tura. These, when religious work was 
commenced among them in 1864, were an independent 
tribe of savages, without a written language, of whom 
not a score, probably, could read in any language. 

Annoyed by the head-hunting practice of this tribe, 
the Indian government occupied Tura in 1867, and 
took over the whole tribe in 1873. One of their first 
steps was for the education of the tribe, and they 
asked the mission to take charge of this educational 
work. ‘The missionaries accepted the invitation, and 
ever since, the educational work of the Garo Hills has 
been principally in the hands of our missionaries, the 
government assisting with a grant-in-aid. 

Encouraged by government to teach freely the Bible 
in our schools, this school work has ever been held as 
an evangelistic work, and during the year 1898, the 
last year for which the report has been received, there 
were in the Garo Hills field ninety-six of these evan- 
gelistic schools. Among a people who could not read, 
where the printed page could not follow and reinforce 
the spoken word, this evangelistic school work has 
been very effective, and around these evangelistic 
schools, to a great extent, have sprung up our Chris- 
tian communities. At the end of 1898 there had been 
baptized in the Tura mission five thousand two hun- 
dred and thirty-nine converts, and there was a body of 
three thousand six hundred members, organized into 
fifteen churches. When we bear in mind that all of 
these village teachers, pastors, and evangelists have to 


126 


be raised up from a tribe of illiterate savages, we can 
see something of the importance of the training school. 

The small village school, which was later developed 
into the Tura training school, was started in 1864 at 
Damra, a village on the northern border of the Garo 
Hills, by Ramkhe, one of the two first converts from 
the tribe. He had been educated in a Garo school 
opened by government in Goalpara, in about 1845, as 
an effort towards civilizing the Garos. This school at 
Damra was, with the financial help of our society, 
opened by Ramkhe soon after his conversion. It was 
one of the first steps towards the evangelization of the 
tribe, and was from the first a centre of evangelistic 
influence. In 1867 Rey. I. J. Stoddard went to 
Goalpara to fully take up mission work for the Garos, 
and this school was made the training school. For a 
time it was continued at Damra, but as Mr. Stoddard 
found it impracticable for him to live at Damra, on 
account of the deadly malaria there, the school was 
removed to Goalpara for the rainy seasons from 1870 
to 1875, and in the latter year was permanently trans- 
ferred to that place. Here it remained until 1878, 
when Mr. and Mrs. Phillips, having occupied Tura as 
a mission station, the school was removed thence. 
As Tura is centrally located, and the centre of influ- 
ence for the district, being government headquarters, 
the school thenceforth drew pupils from all parts of the 
Hills, and the adjoining plains, as it could not do before. 

The following missionaries have had charge of the 
school, namely, Rey. I. J. Stoddard up to 1873; Rey. 
T. J. Keith, 1873 to 1875; Rev. E. G. Phillips, 1876, 
1878 to 1883, 1887 to 1891, and 1897; Rev. C. E. 
Burdette, 1884 to 1886; Rev. S. A. D. Boggs, 1893 to 
1896; Rev. I. E. Munger, 1898; Rev. M. C. Mason, 
1877 and 1899; and Miss E. C. Bond, 1891 and 1892, 
as far as instruction, while Mr. Mason had general 
oversight. Besides these, Rev. Mr. Dring, Mrs. 
Phillips, and Misses Morgan, Wilson, and Mason 
have at different times taken part in the teaching in 
the school. 


127 


The school has been taught in various buildings, 
from the temporary shed with earth floor to the present 
permanent and more commedious, though all too 
small, house. Could you visit the school while in 
session you would have a good climb up to it, espe- 
cially from the bungalow occupied by the lady mission- 
aries, for Tura is on the mountain side, and the school 
is on the eastern or upper side of the compound. It 
is 2 plain, rather long building of six rooms, the main 
room being in the centre, with two recitation rooms on 
one side and three on the other, all opening off from 
the main room. The building h:s an elevated floor, 
woven bamboo walls, and thatch roof As you climb 
the steps to the little veranda, fronting to the west, 
you should stop and take a view of the place. To the 
right, as you face to the west, are teachers’ houses, to 
the rear and right are the long dormitories for the 
boys. To the left and below, and somewhat distant, 
is the Dring bungalow, while to the front, below, 
partly hidden by the trees, is the Munger bungalow. 
Farther on, down across the road, to the left is the 
Mason bungalow, and the chapel tothe right. Farther 
still are the Phillips bungalow and the lady mission- 
aries’ bungalow, with the girls’ dormitories in the rear. 
Beyond the compound, as you look through the trees, 
the view stretches out down over the verdure-covered 
hills to the Brahmaputra, thirty-five miles away, a 
silver line a little below the horizon. 

At the opening devotional exercises the main room 
is packed full, for there are more than a hundred 
pupils present. Many must sit on the floor, for our 
schoo!-house is not yet provided with seats, save rude 
benches, the most of these planks resting on blocks of 
wood. We need better seating, but such needs have 
to be met slowly. 

Co-education is going on here, for the two training 
schools, the boys’ and girls’, have been merged into one, 
thus saving in teaching force and probably giving 
other advantages. 

There are two departments, the advanced, consisting 


128 


of a four years’ conrse, and the primary department. 
In the upper department alone do any of the boys 
receive financial help. Any boy or girl of good con- 
duct, who is far enough advanced, will be admitted to 
these upper classes, but no boy will receive financial 
help who does not give promise of becoming a valuable 
mission helper, for this is a mission training sehool. 
To such, when needed, stipends varying from, three 
and a half to five rupees per month, according to the 
price of rice, is given. A pledge is required that the 
recipient will remain in school until he has completed 
the course of study, or is dismissed by the missionary 
in charge, and will then engage in teaching, or, failing 
this, will refund the money given him. This pledge 
has proven very valuable in helping these independent 
spirited young men to form a definite purpose to finish 
the course and to stick to the purpose. Many of the 
pupils in the primary department are day scholars 
from the town and from the police lines. Others are 
young men from the villages who are working their 
way as servants, or in any way in which they can earn 
a living while carrying on their studies in the school. 
The number of these would be greatly increased were 
we able to increase the facilities for such work. The 
ages of the pupils ip the school as a whole vary from 
little ones just beginning the alphabet to young men 
and women just ready to be@sme mission workers and 
workers’ wives. 

These pupils are studying the elementary branches, 
the Bengali language, and, in the upper department, 
English, and one period of forty minutes in each day 
is given to each class, save perhaps some of the very 
beginners, in Scripture study. Examinations are held 
at stated times, and once a year a teachers’ examina- 
tion is held, the successful candidates receiving govern- 
ment certificates. 

It is © matter for regret that means are not at hand 
(here in the United States) for ascertaining just how 
many have passed through the school since its begin- 
ning, but it is safe to say that of the two hundred and 


129 


fifty or more young men who have done so, not more 
than a dozen have left the school unconverted, and 
these in the earlier years of the school. The great 
majority of these have, after leaving the school, been 
engaged as teachers, pastors, or evangelists among their 
own people. Of the one hundred, more or less, now 
engaged in religious work, a very small minority were 
prepared for their work elsewhere than in this training 
school. Besides those who have completed the course 
of study in the school, many others have attended it 
for shorter periods, and so its influence has been 
increased. Indeed the Tura training school has been 
a very important factor in accomplishing what has 
been done for the Christianization of the Garos, and 
with its growing efficiency it has the prospect of doing 
a larger work in the future. 


130 


THE EDUCATION OF WOMEN AMONG THE 
GAROS. 


MISS ELLA C. BOND. 


Among the Garos, as among most other heathen 
peoples, the work of evangelization and education was 
begun among the men. The women, however, being 
free to go about and mingle with the men in their 
assemblages, were able from the first to hear and accept 
the gospel. It did not take the average Garo long to dis- 
cover that a man who could read and write had a much 
wider field open before him than one who remained 
in his primeval ignorance. Hence there were always 
boys who were ready to go to school if they could be 
supported while there. But when it came to the edu- 
cation of the girls, that was another matter. Their 
parents could sce no practical advantage in it, and the 
work of the girls was valuable about the home and in 
the fields. And so, although Mr. and Mrs. Stoddard 
were appointed as missionaries to the Garos in 1867, 
and entered immediately on their work, it was nearly 
seven years before a girls’ school was started. 

Mrs. Keith made the first attempt to teach the 
women in a regular school. In January, 1874, she 
opened a girls’ boarding-school in Goalpara, with 
twelve pupils, of whom ten remained through the year. 
Mrs. Keith’s health was not equal to the demands of 
the work, and the girls’ parents wer? unwilling to let 
them remain; so after little more than a year the 
school was discontinued. Three of the girls, however, 
remained with Mrs. Keith until it became necessary 
for her to leave the field. 

Although the first girls’ school was short lived, it 
demonstrated the fact that Garo women could learn 
something outside their hereditary routine, and be 
improved by the knowledge. It soon became evident 
that if the best results of mission work were to be 
obtained, the women as well as the men must have 


131 


Christian training. Accordingly, after the mission 
station had been permanently established at Tura, a 
request was made fora single lady to teach the girls, 
which was answered by the sending out of Miss Rus- 
sell in 1879. 

Miss Russell’s first work was to learn the language 
and prepare a place for herself and the girls. She 
built a small bungalow with a long wing running back 
for the school-room. Dormitories and cook-house for 
the girls were built of less substantial materials than 
the bungalow. Before the preparations were com- 
pleted Miss Russell’s health showed signs of giving 
way, and she was obliged to go away for rest and 
change. Thus it was not until the beginning of 1882 
that the girls’ school was again opened. So many 
years had elapsed since the first effort that the pioneer 
work had to be done over again. Miss Russell made 
a tour among the Christian villages seeking girls whose 
parents were willing to let them go to Tura to school. 
She succeeded in getting ten girls, of whom all but one 
were orphans and glad of a place where they could be 
supported. But the next year only one of the old 
pupils and two new ones came to Tura for school. 
After much prayer and deliberation Miss Russell 
decided that she must go out and live with the people 
for at least one season and so gain their confidence. 
Accordingly she had a bamboo house built in Nisan- 
gram, and spent the dry season of 1883-84 there, get- 
ting acquainted with the people and teaching such 
girls as she could persuade to come to her. As a 
result twenty-one girls returned to Tura with her, and 
the school seemed to be established on a firm basis. 
Most of the girls remained through the year, and all 
who remained came back the next year. In the mean- 
time Rev. C. E. Burdette had come to Tura as a 
reinforcement, and in 1885 Miss Russell became Mrs. 
Burdette. In the autumn of that year Mr. Burdette 
was transferred to Gauhati, and as there was no one 
on the field to take charge of the girls’ school in Tura 
it was disbanded. 


132 


In January of 1886 Misses Mason and Bond came 
to Tura as new recruits. Miss Mason’s services were 
required to preside over her brother’s household, and 
consequently she was not able to devote her time to 
the study of the language at first. Miss Bond, how- 
ever, made the language her chief study for a year, and 
then prepared to reopen the school. It was not so 
hard to get pupils this time. Misses Mason and Bond 
visited some of the Christian villages on the north 
side of the hills during the dry season of 1886-87, and 
took a number of girls from that region with them to 
Tura. There were also a few from the south side and 
some from Tura and vicinity, so that the school 
opened March 21 with twenty-seven pupils. During 
the year, from one cause and another, several dropped 
out so that the year closed with only twenty-three. 
Since that time the school has been carried on without 
interruption, until last year (1899) it was united with 
the normal school. Miss Bond had charge of it from 
1887 to 1890, during which time Miss Mason assisted. 
In 1891 Miss Bond was transferred to the normal 
school, leaving Miss Mason in sole charge of the 
girls. In December, 1894, Miss Alice J. Rood arrived in 
Tura, and the following July she took charge of the 
school, releasing Miss Mason for a much needed rest 
in the home land. Miss Rood’s stay was not very 
long. Repeated attacks of fever so weakened her 
health that it was deemed best for her to accompany 
Mr. and Mrs. Phillips home in November, 1898. 

In the meantime there had come the great earth- 
quake of July, 1897, which did so much damage in 
Assam, and was especially destructive of mission 
property in Ganhati. Misses Morgan and Wilson of 
that place, having lost their home and most of their 
possessions in the earthquake, were very much in need 
of a suitable place to live in until their house in 
Gauhati could be rebuilt. The bungalow at Tura 
being about to be vacated (Miss Bond had preceded 
Miss Mason to the United States), it was agreed that 
it would be well for them to occupy it and take charge 


133 


of the girls after Miss Rood’s departure. Accordingly 
they came and held the fort in Tura for about a year. 
The return of Misses Mason and Bond in the latter 
part of 1889 released them and permitted a return to 
their own station at Gauhati, where the work of 
rebuilding was being rapidly pushed. The school 
year of 1900 has opened with fifteen girls in the 
boarding department under Miss Bond’s care. These 
are all pupils in the normal school, where Miss Mason 
and Miss Bond are teaching. 

We have found it difficult to keep the girls long 
enough to give them more than the merest rudiments 
of an education, as they were mostly quite well grown 
when they came, and either they or their parents soon 
began to be anxious that they should marry. As 
the sentiment in favor of the education of girls has 
increased, and they have come to us better prepared, 
it has been found practicable to keep them longer and 
carry them further in their education. Up to the 
present time there have been three girls who have 
practically finished the course in the normal school. 
Thus far the experiment of putting them into classes 
with the boys has worked very well. They still retain 
the consciousness of inferiority of sex which makes 
them feel awkward in mixed classes, but we hope that 
further education acd increasing self-respect will grad- 
ually eradicate this uncomfortable consciousness. 

Already the children of some of the older school 
girls are appearing in our schools, and the advantages 
of intelligent motherhood will become more and more 
apparent as the years roll on. One who was a pupil 
in Mrs. Burdette’s school, and afterwards a pupil 
teacher with me, has been left a widow with four chil- 
dren dependent upon her. Instead of being a burden 
upon her relatives, or being obliged to seek another 
husband to support her, she is supporting her little 
family by teaching school, and is apparently the centre 
of quite a circle of relatives and friends. Such results 
as this more than repay us for the toil and care which 


we have spent ou our girls. 


136 





Indeed, a revival in ‘letters’ —a sort of Naga 
Renaissance — was brought about, and that too by a 
very humble agency, namely, the mere matter of a 
considerable number of the Naga boys and girls learn- 
ing to write. It would seem as if this alone did more 
to show the Naga people the value of education than 
all our talk and religious instruction combined. This 
new interest aroused gave us no small encouragement. 
We were glad also to note that a number of very 
vexed and yexing problems were inclined to remain 
solved and in the background. These were writ pain- 
fully large on the tablet of memory and we were not 
anxious to renew their acquaintance. 

The principle of self-government adopted some years 
ago has been modified and continued. We insist that 
each pupil shall support himself, or work for at least a 
part of his support. The plan is not wholly success- 
ful but is the best that we have been able to devise. 
The teaching of Seripture in Naga has not been, to the 
present, 2 complete success; our apparatus is too 
small. Later we were able to use Broadus’ Catechism 
and also to have a good class in English Bible. In 
these two ways we put abroad some of the fundamental 
teachings of Scripture. 

We are glad to be able to report a large number 
baptized out of the schools. As an evangelizing agency 
education stands shoulder to shoulder with any and all 
agences. As a mode of missions, as a method of 
becoming all things to all men so that thereby some 
may be saved, it is hard to beat. ; 

The year 1899 surpassed all others in results. We 
were able to build two new buildings. The one for 
the primary department was built by an Assamese car- 
penter (or ‘* maistry ’’?) without any assistance from me. 
This seemed like a very great advance. This build- 
ing has a plank floor and ‘‘ maistry ” made wooden 
desks. 

The building for the training school proper has 
wooden floor, reed walls plastered with mud on the 
outside, thatch roof, and American desks. These 


137 


desks did more, apparently, to establish the school in 
the minds and hearts of the young people than all that 
we had done. We had assured them that we intended 
making a good school, but were so long about it that 
they evidently doubted. The desks set their minds at 
rest on that point. To the minds of some these 
American desks would be a doubtful blessing; we 
feel that they are a good investment, that they will 
pay large dividends. 

During the rains of 1899 we felt that the time had 
fully come for more drastic methods of discipline. We 
had always supposed that because the Nagas were so 
wild that it would not do to draw the reins too tight ; 
but something had to be done, so I thrashed three, all 
young men and members of the church. Our skies 
darkened, there were muttering thunders and lightning 
flashes, soto speak, but they all cleared away and our 
skies have been clearer and brighter than they have 
ever been. We had this school year (and our school 
year has never lasted longer than from April to 
October) over sixty scholars in the three departments 
of the school at Impur. We have not graded our 
school. It is unique; it is unlike anything else under 
the sun. It is a common school, academy, college and 
theological seminary all in one, —it is what the people 
seem to need. We have tried to make our school fit 
the people, not the people fit the school. We call it a 
training school, and that is its grade if it has a grade. 
None have been graduated, but with the exception of 
the four Assamese helpers, all of our teachers and 
preachers are the first fruits of our school. We long 
ago decided that if we ever had teachers we would 
haye to make them to order. Most of our workers 
teach and preach during the cold season and go to 
school during the rains. We began in a very small 
way and haye not yet got beyond the day of small 
things ; but enough has been done to amply repay for 
all the time and money expended, and to make us feel 
that we could have hardly expended our lives in a 
better way. 


138 


Our scholars (there are sixty of all departments) 
range in age from six to thirty-six or forty years of 
age. One of them, Sosang, who with Purella, his wife, 
learned to read in three months well enough to read 
the Naga Scriptures and conduct the young people’s 
meeting. Another, Imonungshe, the pastor of the 
church at Impur, when he ‘was first converted and 
came into the school, said he would go to school for 
forty years so great was his desire for an education. 
Of the eight teachers and assistants in our school six 
are students as well as teachers. ’ 

To conclude, we at Impur feel that we have a larger 
work than to ‘* plant Christianity,” to use a phrase in 
vogue at the present time in America. Christianity 
was planted long ago in the Naga Hills, and if our 
work is simply to plant Christianity our work is long 
ago done. We feel that our work is to plant Christ 
and to grow His life in the heart of every man. This 
is the idea of the Great Commission. It will not be 
done by our might, but through the power of the Holy 
Spirit working through us and them. We are to make 
them followers, learners of Christ. The development 
of the Christ character is our great work. To this end 
the temporal and mental and the spiritual go hand in 
hand. High spiritual living is not usually attainable 
in the midst of ignorant, filthy living. It was possible 
for John Newton to write his finest passage on board 
a slave ship; but the average Christian needs to flee 
every sort of slavery. The exalted life in Christ Jesus 
our Naga brethren have not yet attained, they will 
never attain it in all its fulness; but we trust they are 
striving after it. Nothing less can satisfy them or us. 
To this end our training school is one of the most 
important agencies. 


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For near'y Twen 








MARY LOWE COLBY. 


ty Years President of the Woman's Baptist Foreign 
Missionary Society. 














139 


THE MARY L. COLBY HOME AT YOKAHAMA. 
MISS CLARA A. CONVERSE. : 


The origin of this school, if traced to its very source, 
was a school under the charge of Clara A. Sands 
(Mas. Brand). Her school was for the most part a 
day school, but she had a few boarders. When she 
went to America in 1886, about six of these girls were 
transferred to Mrs. Nathan Brown, whose home had 
just been left desolate by the death of Dr. Brown. 
The girls occupied a small building which Dr. Brown 
had used as a printing house. 

In 1887, Amy W. Cornes, an Eurasian girl, gradu- 
ated from the Woman’s Union School and became 
Mrs. Brown’s helper. From that time till the present 
she has been a faithful worker in the school. 

In 1889 Mrs. Brown went to America for a short 
furlough. While there she told the ladies of her school, 
which had so increased in numbers as to outgrow the 
printing-house, and asked for an appropriation for a 
new building. The ladies granted her request and 
also sent Clara A. Converse to be her assistant. Miss 
Converse arrived in Yokohama, January, 1890. 

In September of the same year Mrs. Brown married 
Dr. Ashmore and went with him to China. Before 
going, however, she secured a lot and made arrange- 
ments with an architect for the erection of a school 
building and a home for the lady missionaries. This 
new building was dedicated to God, Dec. 18, 1891. 
At that time the home received its present name in 
honor of her who, in many ways, had been a help and 
inspiration to our work. The picture of Mary L. 
Colby hangs in our chapel, and our prayer is that we, 
both teachers and scholars, may have something of her 
consecration and earnest piety in our lives. 

The Bible-women, under the care of Nanna J. 
Wilson, moved into the school in December, 1891. 
Miss Wilson’ also had. care of .a boys’ day school. 


140 


Ella R. Church was in the home for a few months 
helping Miss Wilson and doing evangelistic work in 
the outlying towns, but in the spring of 1892 she 
went to Himeji to open the girls’ school, which is now 
so prosperous. Early in 1893 Miss Wilson returned 
to America broken in health. 

With the exception of a six months’ visit from Mr. 
and Mrs. Parshley, Miss Converse and Miss Cornes 
were alone until the coming of Mary A. Hawley and 
Harriet M. Witherbee, in September, 1895. These ~ 
two ladies were in charge of the work while Miss 
Converse took her furlough from May, 1897, till 
September, 1898. Miss Witherbee went to assist 
Miss Church in Himeji, in October, 1899. 

The name Mary L. Colby Home, expressed in the 
Japanese syllabary, would not be recognizable to an 
American, and the Japanese are not satisfied with a 
name which cannot be written in the Chinese character, 
so, while the missionaries’ home and school together is 
known as the Mary L. Colby Home, the school is known 
in Japan as the Soshin Jo Gakko — Truth-seeking 
Girls’ School. 

In 1891, a course of study was prepared covering 
twelve years. The government schools are divided 
into jinjo sho gakko, the first four years of a child’s 
school life; koto sho gakko, the second four years; 
chu gakko, the high school grade, and dai gakko, or 
university. 

Our course of study was based on the government 
schools’ curriculum, covering the eight years of sho 
gakko and four years of high school or academic 
grade. The Bible is given a firm, prominent place in 
the course of study. The branches studie@ are much 
the same as those pursued in the American schools, 
but there is little opportunity for quiet studying in 
preparation, for the text-books are written in Chinese 
characters too difficult for the child toread. From the 
first year, the children bezin to learn to read and write 
the Chinese character, and the time required for this 
is taken from what would seem to us to be more profit- 


141 


able. English is taught only as one branch in the 
school. Mathematics, science, history, ete., are all 
learned in Japanese. 

The course of study was as stated above until 
August, 1899, when, owing to the new laws which 
were made, Bible instruction was shut out of the 
primary grades. For this reason our primary grade 
was dropped, and our course of study is now eight 
years instead of twelve. 

The most of our students are boarders. Our school 
home of about fifty is divided into families of four, 
each family occupying one room. The most responsi- 
ble of the four is the head of the room, and in look- 
ing after the younger ones gains valuable experience. 
The work of the school home is shared by the girls, 
one servant being employed as a hub to keep the wheel 
steady. Much of the work in the missionaries’ home 
is also done by girls who are not able to pay their 
expenses. 

Since the beginning of the school ten girls have 
graduated, all of them Christians. One married a doc- 
tor, an unbeliever; one is Miss Church’s most reliable 
helper, another is a teacher in Mrs. Thompson’s kinder- 
garten, one was for some time Miss Duflield’s helper, 
but is now a clerk in a photograph store, one is Miss 
Witherbee’s helper, another is teacher in Miss Browne’s 
orphanage, three are teachers in our school (one of the 
three, however, is Miss Hawley’s personal teacher), and 
one with a rich, full faith has crossed the river and 
entered heaven. 

Since the school came to this building in December, 
1891, one hundred and twenty-two boarders and two 
hundred and twenty-eight day scholars have been 
enrolled. Most of the day scholars have been primary 
children. They have learned much about the true 
God; many of them, we feel sure, have become 
Christians in heart, and the influence of the school is 
markedly felt in the homes, but no large number of 
them have become baptized Christians. Of the boarders 
sixty-one are professed Christians. Many of the 


142 


smaller children have also been lambs of the fold, we 
believe, though they have not publicly professed Christ. 
Of those who remain a year or two in school, few have 
left us without faith. 

The past year has been marked by a special spiritual 
activity among the girls. God has given us several 
marked answers to prayer and this has strengthened 
the faith of the girls. Last July and August every 
one interested in mission schools was full of anxiety 
lest the new laws should close our Christian schools. 
At that time our teachers and scholars bowed together 
in fervent, earnest prayer. When the time for the 
schools to open in September came, we found that we 
need sacrifice nothing but our jinjo sho gakko, primary 
grade. We were sorry to see the fifty little people 
scattered, but we did what we could to keep them in 
Sunday school and succeeded better than we expected. 
The parents of the little children who were boarding in 
the school were disappointed and begged us to make a 
way to keep them. Arrangements were therefore 
made to have them attend the neighboring government 
school. Seven happy little children had their Bible 
lesson and prayer in the morning and went off to 
school. They did so well in their work that they 
attracted the attention of the visiting committee. The 
principal, who has one thousand children under his care, 
spoke to me specially of one of the little girls by name, 
commending her excellence in composition. Two of 
the teachers came to our school to inquire into our 
methods and this gave a Christian teacher the oppor- 
tunity to say that one of the principal advantages of 
our school is the intellectual stimulus gained from the 
study of the Bible. The relations between the two 
schools has grown more and more friendly, and we 
trust that this experience will tend to break down 
some of the prejudice felt in educational circles against 
religion being taught in schools. The Japanese 
teachers deserve a word of mention. The school 
definitely organized has had six different male teachers. 
Giro Heirabe is a man of high family, his elder brother 


143 


being one of the first Embassy to the United States. 
Mr. Heirabe while in a position of responsibility com- 
mitted some breach of trust and was put into jail. 
While there he read his Bible given to him by his sis- 
ter. He was also much impressed by the kindness of 
Mr. Bennett who visited the prison. As soon as he 
received his liberty he came to our church. A little 
later he was engaged as teacher in our school. He 
was baptized and is now a deacon in the Yokohama 
Baptist Church. He was a teacher for four years 
from 1890-1894, and is still a strong friend of the 
school. Mr. Iwara, an Episcopalian, Mr. Auzai, a 
Methodist, and Mr. Tsurugu, a Baptist, were with us at 
different periods and did good work. Juichiro 
Uyiyama became a teacher in the school in April, 
1892. He is a strong, steadfast Christian man; a 
deacon in the church; a man who has had deep 
spiritual experiences and who has a strong confidence 
in prayer. Dinkichi Fujmioto became teacher in 
September, 1894. He became a Christian after he 
came to the school. He is a man of keen intellect, 
clear, concise in speech and action, and though he has 
a logical turn of mind he stands firm and steady on 
the rock ‘‘ God saith,” and is not troubled by any 
doubts or questionings of the Word. These two men 
are opposites in everything except in that both are 
firm in their Christian convictions, and agreeing in 
this they grow more and more to sympathize in other 
matters, and are always a tower of strength in the time 
of difficulty. — 

The lady teachers, aside from Miss Cornes, have been 
for the most part graduates of the school and have 
done excellent work. 

One year from December next marks the tenth 
anniversary of the dedication of the Mary L. Colby 
Home. How great are the causes for thanksgiving 
which come to usas we remember the record of these 
years! but the mistakes also have been many. God 
grant that better work may be done in the future than 
in the past. 


144 


THE SARAH CURTIS HOME AT TOKYO. 
MISS ANNA KIDDER. 


The Sarah Curtis Home had its beginning under a 
name similar to the one by which it is now known in 
the government, Shuntai Ei Wa Jo Gakko, — the 
Tsuruga Hill English and Japanese Girls’ School, for 
from this little eminence the country of Tsuruga can 
be seen, and there stands peerless Fuji. 

Rev. James Hope and Mrs. Arthur were sent to 
Japan in 1873 to assist Dr. Brown, in Yokohama, but 
Mr. Arthur longed to plant a Baptist church in Tokyo. 
So, in June, 1874, as the guests of the Hon. Arinori 
Mori, they came to this city, hoping in some way to 
begin work for the longed-for church. 

In those early days the foreigner who lived in the 
city of Tokyo had to be employed by some Japanese. 
The red-haired barbarian could own no land, rent no 
house, engage in no trade, nor be principal of his own 
school. After several unsuccessful attempts to do 
something that would give opportunity for direct 
Christian labor, Mr. Arthur, under Mr. Mori’s patron- 
age, decided to open a girls’ school. 

Mr. Mori had been in the United States both as a 
student and as minister to our government at Washing- 
ton, and had observed what education was doing for 
American women, and gladly consented to become Mr. 
Arthur’s employer in a work that he knew would be 
uplifting to his country. He built a house on his own 
land with Mr. Arthur’s money, in which the mission- 
aries lived, and a school was opened in some old 
buildings in his and in a neighboring yard. 

To this place as many girls as could be accommo- 
dated came,—the larger part from another mission 
school started but a few months before in the Con- 
cession, a small area set apart for foreign residence 
—and apart from the Japanese normal school, then 
just begun. 





HON. ARINORI MORI. THE FAITHFUL STUDENT 
AND FRIEND. 








THE SARAH CURTIS HOME, TOKYO, JAPAN. 





145 


After a time all but one of these left to try other 
new schools. Whether the earthquakes, the tidal waves, 
or the devastating storms are to blame, perhaps nobody 
knows, but of one thing the observer of things Japanese 
is certain; change is the one reliable factor in the 
make-up of this nation. 

With such a man as Mr. Mori to go before and 
champion the school, the future looked promising. But 
work was scarcely begun when there must needs be 
the question whether Christianity should be taught 
in this Christian school. Mr. Mori said no, so 
Mr. and Mrs. Arthur, after a night of thought and 
prayer, wrote to the head of the school what they con- 
sidered their duty to the girls who had come to them 
for instruction. Mr. Mori was quite as decided, and 
his reply severed his connection with the school. 

But as employer and employed were in a sense only 
nominal terms, Mr. Arthur, under a man who would 
be both his employer and teacher, kept on with the 
school under conditions that were not easy to a liberty- 
loving American. A friend could not be invited to 
spend the night, nor a servant engaged or dismissed, 
without asking this employer, who could get permis- 
sion from the police. 

When Miss Anna H. Kidder came to help in the 
school in 1875, and the papers promising to yield to 
the wishes of a heathen in all things pertaining to 
school and residence were presented for her signature, 
there came a halt; but the infant mission could not 
then be sustained without the school. Again there 
was a long night watch, and the conclusion arrived at 
was that the contract could be signed, as there was 
provision for violation, and it might be that if the 
work could be held rightly under this man for a season, 
the Lord would give other help in his own time and 
way. 

After a while three of the original pupils returned 
to join the one who had remained faithful, but left 
again when they began to realize that English was not 
an easy language. So another school formed itself, 


146 


among whose pupils were more boys than girls. But 
when the boys found that the course of study was not 
arranged for them they left, and one by one were 
added little girls, some of whom remained to study, 
became Christians, and finally to be good workers, 
teachers, and mothers. 

Mr. and Mrs. Arthur lived here only till the spring 
of 1876, but long enough to form the church into which 
he baptized the one girl who remained faithfully in the 
school, and then, when they could least be spared, they 
returned to the home land, he to go over to the heavenly 
country, and she to work for Japan awhile in America, 

-and then to go as Mrs. Mason, of Assam, to join 
our mission band on the farther shore. 

After a time the name employer was softened to 
security. Seven of these have come and, with the 
adoption of the new treaties, gone. One was so 
wicked we paid him to leave. Another closed the 
school to prove to those most concerned the extent of 
his authority. Two have made us abidingly grateful 
for their quiet helpfulness. One is that same faithful 
pupil (see picture). She will soon resign this office, 
as it is not needed under the new régime. 

This school had six different homes in eight years. 
Just when it had begun to take root some change in 
the affairs of the landlord would necessitate a move, 
and though the consideration of allowing us to change 
in the summer vacation was almost always granted, 
yet vacations spent in house hunting and moving were 
anything but upbuilding to the health. One move — 
our saddest — into the mission house in the Concession 
took the number down to six. 

This state of affairs prompted the missionary to ask 
for a permanent home for the school. The need was 
so imperative that our Ladies’ Board granted it readily, 
and some good people in Muine, in memory of a good 
woman, were moyed to give the larger part of the six 
thousand dollars necessary for buying land and erect- 
ing the Sarah Curtis Home. Great was the thanks- 
giving of teachers and pupils when, on July 29, 1885, 
the move to che new bedaing was accomplished. 


147 


Miss Eva J. Munson came to the school in 1879, 
where she remained a beloved teacher and missionary 
till, in 1882, she became the wife of Mr. White, an 
English Baptist missionary. 

In 1883 Miss M. Antoinette Whitman, and in 1888 
Miss Annie M. Clagett, came, and it would fail me to 
tell of their abundant labors and watchings and fast- 
ings for the church and school till the present time. 

Miss Ella R. Church came in 1889, and after render- 
ing service here and in Yokohama has proved herself 
a worker that need not be ashamed, for in Himeji there 
stands a flourishing girls’ school, the product of her 
zeal and patience. The church was formed, grew, and 
always held its services in the school till the move into 
the Concession, in 1882. 

The daily study and teaching of the Bible, always 
in the vernacular, has given to all the boarders a good 
knowledge of the Scriptures. The larger part of those 
living in the house have become Christians. Some- 
times those who have been quite free to believe and 
profess Christ have refused his claims the longest. 
There have been times of special refreshing when the 
atmosphere was like winds from Heaven. At one 
time all the boarders became Christians. Seventy- 
seven have publicly professed Christ in baptism. A 
much larger number have acknowledged the claims of 
Christianity, but from opposition in other families have 
quenched the light that began to shine in their hearts. 

The course of study includes Japanese, Chinese,’ 
English, and sewing. The girls make all their own 
clothing and do most of the housework. 

There has been fora long time a primary depart- 
ment of four years, which was a good feeder for the 
higher departments, but the minister of education 
ruled last year that in such schools neither in nor out 
of school hours could religious instruction be given, or 
a prayer offered. We, of course, had to submit to this 
tyranny so far as to give up this department. The 
school ranks now as a high school, with a preparatory 
division of four years 


148 


None were graduated for the first twelve years, 
though some completed the course of study; because, 
in so many ways, the girls did not seem fit subjects for 
graduation, Thirteen in recent years have been gradu- 
ated. Many of the undergraduates, as well as those 
who have received diplomas, are filling, with acceptance, 
positions as teachers, nurses, helpers, wives of good 
men, and mothers who are giving their children a home 
education in character building such as has been given 
to no other generation of Japanese. Ten sleep in 
Jesus. 

In 1884 the desire for English began to be mani- 
fested, and for five years there was such steady growth 
that the day of self-support seemed at hand, and nearly 
the whole of this school’s appropriation was returned. 
But a different spirit seized the people, all things 
foreign were thrown aside, the Christian schools 
dwindled, the press and the community were so anti- 
foreign that no teacher or graduate of any one of the 
schools was bold enough to come out publicly a 
champion of the mission schools, 

This time also passed; and again all were gaining 
in numbers and influence, when the order of the present 
minister of education struck us. Now, however, the 
Japanese press and the Christian world have so dis- 
approved of the Government’s assumption of absolute 
authority over private schools, contrary to the letter of 
the new Constitution, that there is a lull in the threat- 
ened and begun opposition, and the schools are again 
rising in influence. 

The time to favor mission schools may be delayed, 
but being an integral part of the gospel work for the 
Empire, they, with the Church of Christ, have been 
planted to remain and flourish till these islands of the 
Sunrise Land shall become a garden yielding fruit 
that shall shake like Lebanon to the giory of our 
Saviour and Redeemer. 


149 


THE EVOLUTION OF A KINDERGARTEN. 
MISS NELLIE FIFE. 


Feb. 5, 1897, dawned bright and beautiful, but the 
brightness without did not compare with the sunshine 
in our hearts; for this was the opening of the -Yotsuga 
kindergarten. We had waited long for it and our joy 
was correspondingly great; indeed, out of all propor- 
tion to any visible cause. For what did we see? Only 
a small Japanese house with one room fifteen by twelve, 
and two tiny side rooms about nine feet square. In 
these, five frightened looking little people with their 
timid mothers, and two young Japanese teachers eager 
to begin their first enterprise in life. Was ever 
beginning smaller? But we remembered that tiny seeds 
may become great trees and were content to sow in 
hope. By the end of February, our numbers had 
grown to fifteen, with bright prospects of a large increase 
as soon as the weather became warmer. Whena triple 
epidemic of whooping-cough, mumps, and small-pox 
swept the neighborhood, for a time the kindergarten 
was nearly broken up, but we seized the opportunity to 
visit our small invalids and by loving sympathy win 
the hearts of the mothers. The people in this part of 
Tokyo knew little of foreigners, foreign religion, and 
even the kindergarten. They were very timid and 
distrustful. A slight cold was sufficient to keep the 
children from our warm rooms, although they might run 
the damp streets at will. Hundreds of calls were made, 
while every morning the teachers sallied forth in quest 
of their small charges, too often returning accompanied 
by disappointed hopes. ‘These were the days when our 
numbers were small and the omnipresent policeman 
flourished. Should our numbers increase we would be 
promptly closed up, so we rejoiced in small numbers. 
We secured a teacher with a certificate and took steps 
toward securing a government permit. First result, 
the discovery of a multitude of things we might not do, 


140 


and some few which we might if we could only get 
the chance. Second result, the new teacher proved 
unfitted for our purpose and left us. Nevertheless the 
work steadily grew until summer vacation, when we had 
a Sunday school of seventy-five, church services were 
well attended, a number seemed to be earnest inquirers, 
and our first convert was baptized. In the kinder- 
garten we had enrolled forty-seven altogether, thirty of 
whom proved permanent pupils. While the matter of 
a government permit was pending we were assured 
that we would not be closed up and the policeman’s 
visits became less frequent. Work went on happily 
during the autumn. The delights of the children in 
their first Christmas gladdened our hearts. 

As our second year opened we were confronted with 
three imperative demands. Government permission 
must be secured or the work must stop. To gain 
that, two other things were necessary: a suitable 
building and certificates for our teachers. By faith 
our present building was put up with little visible 
means, and ready for occupancy by June 30. The 
same day one teacher received her certificate. We 
now had room for fifty children. Wecould also renew 
our efforts to secure a government permit. Sept. 30 
the much coveted document came. We were now free 
within certain limits. In Japan itis not so much what 
you do as what you appear to do that is objected to. 
We must not teach Christianity too openly. Praying 
to be both wise and harmless we succeeded in teaching 
the gospel without getting into trouble or compromising 
conscience; but it was quiet teaching in kindergarten 
only. The church and Sunday school had to be moved 
to another place, where for a year a band of bad boys 
tyrannized the Sunday-school scholars, even beating 
them and spitting upon them in order to drive them 
from us. Later on another place was secured on the 
same street, and but a block from the kindergarten, 
since which the work has gone on quietly growing. 

When our second year drew to a close and we re- 
viewed each step of the way in which we had. been led, 


151 


our hearts were filled with praise to God who had sup- 
plied our every need and crowned the work of his own 
planting with so much success. 

During the third year our numbers increased to fifty. 
When the new school laws came into force it was 
thought that the kindergarten would be closed as the 
primary schools were, but on the contrary a written 
statement was secured from the vice-minister of educa- 
tion stating that kindergartens were free to teach any- 
thing they chose, as they were outside of the regular 
course of study. This gave us the freedom we longed 
for. We soon opened a kindergarten, Sunday school, 
and English classes in which the Bible is daily and 
openly taught. As many public evangelistic meetings 
as we wish can be held in the kindergarten rooms, a 
privilege we are embracing. 

Two years of aloneness made me feel greatly the 
need of companionship. God heard my cry and gave 
me Miss Minnie M. Carpenter as my associate. This 
necessitated the enlargement of our building. The 
autumn months were spent in building additional 
rooms. At the same time, amid the clang of hammers, 
the rasping of saws, and all the noise and work of 
building 


D2? 


with one wall nearly open to the keen winds, 
the kindergarten went on without a day’s interruption 
until Christmas. 

Dunean Academy had moved out near us during the 
autumn and joined us in the church work, our beloved 
pastor Mr. Chiba had come to us a little before, and 
my other teacher had received her certificate. With 
all these causes for thanksgiving we determined to 
have a fitting Christmas celebration. The church and 
Sunday school, the academy boys and teachers, and 
the English classes were invited to unite with the kin- 
dergarten in celebrating this happiest of days. About 
two hundred were present, and we only hope all were 
as happy as we were. We could now consider the 
foundations of the Yotsuga work well laid. For the- 
present, at least, no more time need be spent struggling 
with contracts and carpenters, government rules and 


152 


regulations, nor teachers’ certificates. Free to put all 
our forces on direct work, we are looking for copious 
showers of blessing. No sketch of Yotsuga work 
would be complete without some account of the workers. 
I will speak of them in chronological order : — 

Miss Mizukami has been a great dependence all 
through these years. Amiability, fidelity, love, and 
loyality, coupled with much patience under difficulties, 
are her leading characteristics. She always reminds 
one of fragrant blue violets; though very timid she has 
become quite a business woman, attending to most of 
the business we have. 

Miss Oka is our circle leader. She is very bright, 
a natural leader, an enchanting story teller. She has 
a generous, warm heart and many other excellent and 
noble traits of character. 

Miss Kinoshita came to me two years and a half ago 
a veritable heathen. Her face looked stolid and hard 
and I scarcely wanted to take her as a servant. Her 
uncle charged her not to listen to Christianity, but she 
heard, believed, and in three or four months was 
baptized. Since then her development has been rapid. 
She proved so promising that it seemed best to train 
her for a kindergartner. She now has a class and is 
doing lovely work. 

Miss Kawashima is a graduate of our Himeji girls’ 
school. Her character is marked especially by truth 
and faithfulness. She is an excellent teacher. She 
has our kindergarten graduates in Sunday school, and 
also in English and Bible lessons during the week, 
teaches another class in English, a class in kinder- 
garten, and is most helpful in all departments of work. 

Okuyama Omoto San is my dear old Bible-woman 
who was with me four years in Sendai. She is a 
woman of wide experience in Bible-woman’s work, and 
is a blessing in our home and work. 

Misses Mizukami and Oka graduated from the 
Presbyterian girls’ school. ‘They have both become 
Baptists by conviction and have been baptized. 

Children who have been with us a year or more take 


153 


high rank in the public school, both in scholarship and 
deportment. The children at the head of the first and 
second year classes are from the Light-giving Kinder- 
garten. As the reputation of the work has become 
better known we have evidently been adopted by the 
community as a permanent institution, and we are be- 
coming what our name implies, a light-giving centre. 

We are trying to make the fullest use of our build- 
ing. Sunday morning comes the kindergarten Sunday 
school down-stairs, and Mr. Clement’s English Bible 
class up-stairs. In the afternoon there is a young 
ladies’ Christian Endeavor Society. Of course every 
morning in the week, except Saturday, the kindergarten 
is in session. 

On Monday afternoon we have a children’s meeting 
of the two Sunday schools. About fifty are coming of 
late. There is a grand rush at the close to put away 
the chairs, and arrange the chairs and benches for the 
English classes which meet every day from four to 
5.30 o’clock. On Tuesdays and Thursdays we have 
special classes for the kindergarten graduates. Some 
women’s meetings, and general meetings are also held 
at different times. 

We feel very grateful for ample opportunity for full- 
est service, for our excellent teachers and helpers, and 
the countless evidences of Divine favor, and our hearts 
sing continually: ‘‘ The lines are fallen unto me in 
pleasant places, yea, I haye a goodly heritage.” 


154 


THE TSUKIJI KINDERGARTEN AND TOKYO 
DAY SCHOOL. 


EVA L ROLMAN. 


The Tsukiji kindergarten was begun Jan. 8, 1897, 
in the mission house. I began it as a department 
of Mrs. Topping’s kindergarten for foreign chil- 
dren. The Japanese department grew and flourished, 
and the foreign one was moved to another house. 
Mrs. Topping and Mrs. Clement have been connected 
with it from the first. More than one hundred little 
people have attended it for a year or more. .Owing to 
the limited accommodations there have never been 
more than thirty-five regular pupils at a time. Many 
mothers, relatives, and nurses, while waiting for the 
little ones, have come under the teaching of Chris- 
tianity. There is a blessed influence continually going 
out from the place. These wee pupils become real 
seed sowers, and are wonderfully effective in opening 
homes and hearts to us and the teaching. Already 
several souls have been born into the kingdom and 
baptized into the church, who first heard of Christ in 
the kindergarten. 

Four have graduated from the kindergarten. There 
have always been two or three children from Christian 
homes. ‘The children are from three to six years old 
generally, though there have been a few who were 
seven. They are all samurai, or middle class. 

The building is a small two-story frame one, of 
native style, with tile roof, and plastered within. It 
is 18 x 21 feet, with an entrance on the east side 
4x6 feet. There is an enclosed veranda on the south 
three feet wide. As you know, all our doors and win- 
dows are of paper, and run in grooves, with wooden 
doors to protect them from the rain by day or to keep 
thieves out at night. On stormy days, when the shut- 
ters are closed, it is dark within, so one ean neither 
read nor sew. To obviate this difficulty, both im the 

















‘OAMOL ‘NJLYVOUFGNIN S\NVATOU@SSIN NI SSVI ¥ 
































155 


kindergarten and school, we haye glass windows in- 
stead of the usual white paper ones. 

At the close of last December we received govern- 
ment permission for the kindergarten, with permission 
to teach Christianity as before. 


Tue Torro Mission Day Scuoor 


Is now called the Seikei Gakko School of pure teach- 
ing. It is located in Bohikicho, about a quarter of a 
mile southwest of Tsukiji. 

The school was begun by Mrs. White in February, 
18858, and cared for by her until Dec. 30, 1898. Since 
that time I have looked after it, assisted by Mrs. 
Clement. 

The school is of primary and intermediate grade. 
At present there are forty-five pupils, two of whom are 
from Christian homes. All of the children are taught 
from the Bible and catechism daily, and all of them 
are regular attendants at the Sunday school held in 
the school building. 

The scholars are from seven to fourteen years of age. 
I cannot give the whole number of graduates, but there 
are at least four or five each year. No record has 
been kept of the children after leaving the school. 
-Some of them have gone out Christians, most with a 
good head knowledge of the Word, and we believe heart 
knowledge also. Surely the lives and conduct of the 
pupils, both boys and girls, from this school will be 
ruled and influenced by what they learned there. 

The building is a two-story wooden one, large enough 
to accommodate a hundred. The primary department 
is on the first floor, and the intermediate above, on the 
second. There are two teachers, a woman and a man. 
Both of them are Christians now. ‘The head teacher 
was the man converted this last term and expects to 
be baptized into the church soon. 

At the close of the year we received government per- 
mission for the school. No restrictions were made in 
the teaching of Christianity. 


156 


HINOMOTO JOGAKKO, HIMEJI, JAPAN. 
MISS ELLA R. CHURCH. 


Saturday afternoon, Jan. 9, 1892, I reached the 
city of Himeji. Dr. Rhees had for a number of years 
held Christian meetings here occasionally, and at the 
time of my arrival an evangelist was located in the 
preaching place. My home for the first winter in 
Himeji was a room twelve feet square in the evange- 
list’s house, This one room was kitchen, bedroom, 
dining-room, study, reception room and school-room. 
The furniture consisted of a cot bed, which we put 
into the closet in the daytime, a pine table two feet 
by three feet, three chairs, and a charcoal brazier for 
heating. The native callers sat on the floor, and I did 
the same as far as I was .able, that I might draw 
nearer to them, and understand them as well as pos- 
sible. In this place, Hinomoto Jogakko, as yet name- 
Jess and but a vague plan, began its existence with 
one pupil, Kawashina Matsu, in the latter part of 
January, 1892. Most of my time during the first few 
months was given to a class of middle-aged women who 
came daily for Bible lessons, and to the many callers 
who thronged the little room. Still, by the end of March 
there were two other regular pupils in our little school, 
and a greater or less number of transient pupils, all of 
which, was an indication that the school would grow, 
but that its growth would probably be slow. Very 
few girls in Himeji were sent to school after ten years 
of age, and many of them not at all. The city is old- 
fashioned and very conservative. I found the people 
were not interested in female education, still, during 
the first year, the school grew a little. In April we 
took a larger house, and by the following January a 
building was erected to accommodate forty pupils. We 
moved into the new building Jan. 7, and the build- 
ings were dedicated and the school formally opened 





MISSION GIRL’S SCHOOL, HIMEJI, JAPAN. 





157 


with the name ‘‘ Hinomoto Jogakko,” Feb. 11, 1893. 
At this time there were in the school twelve regular 
pupils, and fourteen others under Bible instruction. 
Organizing new work, training inexperienced workers, 
erecting new buildings in a heathen land, are by 
no means easy tasks. The three duties falling upon 
one person are far too much, and only as strength and 
wisdom are given from on high can such work be 
done. The writer felt so much her inability to cope 
with the difficulties that often whole nights were spent 
in prayer to God for needed help and wisdom. Many 
blessed lessons of faith and patience were learned dur- 
ing the first few years alone in Himeji. 

The school grew and evangelistic work increased, 
until it was plain to all that an additional missionary 
was needed in Himeji, and Nov. 9, 1894, I was joined 
by Miss D. D. Barlow, who remained in Himeji until 
December, 1897. 

Miss Florence Duffield spent one year in the Hino- 
moto Jogakko during my absence in America. Last 
autumn Miss Harriet M. Witherbee joined me in the 
work here, so from the beginning of the work here 
there have been four missionaries associated with the 
school, but never more than two at one time, and for 
much of the time only one. 

During the seven years since the buildings were 
erected here, there have been one hundred and forty- 
seven pupils enrolled. The largest enrolment in any 
one year has been sixty. There has been a gradual 
growth from one at the beginning to twenty-four in 
1896, and sixty in 1899. The average attendance is 
still not over forty, but is growing higher. 

Forty-eight of the pupils in the school have been 
baptized, and a number of them are in direct evange- 
listie work. Our school is so young that there have 
not yet been many graduates. ‘The class last year were 
the first to finish the entire course. The three gradu- 
ates of last year have all entered upon mission work, 
one as a helper in Mrs. Thomson’s kindergarten im 
Kobe, another of Miss Fife in Tokyo, and the third 


158 


went to Mrs. Scott to help her in her Bible-woman’s 
work. Previously there were two girls whom we call 
‘*partial graduates.’’ The first, Honda Haru, gradn- 
ated in Japanese in 1895, and, after helping Miss 
Barlow for two years, married Takahashi San, a 
graduate of our Baptist Theological School in Yoko- 
lama. They are now working for the Master in 
Kyoto. The second ‘‘ partial graduate,’ Yoshioka 
Tetsu, graduated from the Bible-woman’s course, and 
as the wife of Morita San, an evangelist at Toyodka, 
on the west coast of Japan, is doing a good work 
there among the women. 

Our school began with little children, some of whom 
could not read at all, but the grades have gradually 
been raised as the city schools have grown larger and 
better, until now pupils are not admitted until after 
they have finished four years at the public schools. 
We give the girls six or seven years more of school 
training under strong Christian influence. No pupil 
that has been in the school for six months as a boarder 
is not a praying child, and no one (except the very 
little ones) has been a boarder two years who has not 
united with the church by baptism. 

The location seems healthful. Many children who 
have come to us delicate and sickly have grown strong 
and rosy in our school home. But, better still, many 
who have come with hearts polluted with sin have 
grown truthful, honest, loving, and with hearts 
renewed by the grace of God are ready themselves to 
go out and seek to save the lost. 


ZENRIN KINDERGARTEN, KOBE, JAPAN. 
HistoricaAL SKETCH: 
GAZELLE R. THOMPSON. 


The nucleus around which the Zenrin kindergarten 
settlement finally materialized was a group of children 
gathered out of the streets near our meeting house in 
one of the eastern suburbs of Kobe, in February, 1892. 

These children spent the livelong day wandering 
aimlessly up and down the roads, playing in the 
gutters, running after the chance foreigner to beg for 
pennies ; occasionally, when pressed by hunger, filching 
a cake or baked sweet potato most dextrously from 
the numerous small stands along the streets; inci- 
dentally, they were tending the babies tied on their 
backs, or perhaps I should say that this was their 
occupation, and the other things the ‘‘ incidents” in 
their monotonous lives. 

With the aid of a young Japanese woman who was 
taking a post-graduate course in one of the Kobe 
mission schools, and who could give me but two or 
three hours per day, I began to teach these children to 
read and write the simple Japanese kana (alphabet) ; 
they also learned to sing hymns and to repeat Bible 
verses. 

They were eager to learn and their number increased 
rapidly. The little students were inseparable from 
their infant charges, and it was a sight when a class 
recited or learned a lesson orally, as is their custom, 
for each little nurse would keep on patting the baby 
and jouncing it up and down to keep it quiet, by stand- 
ing first on one foot and then the other, as mechani- 
cally as a mother ‘‘ rocks the cradle.” 

But soon our rooms were full to overflowing, and it 
became evident that if we would help the little nurses 
we must devise some method of caring for their small 
charges. Knowing something of the blessing which 
the kindergarten and the créche have proved to the 


160 


children of the poor in the larger cities of my own 
country, and having had some personal experience in 
kindergarten work there, what more natural than that I 
should covet similar blessings for these little brownies ? 

Our home furlough came at this time, and thus I was 
enabled to lay the matter before the Woman’s Baptist 
Board of the East, in the United States, and the dear 
home workers responded with the cordial interest that 
is so characteristic of them; the generous impulses of 
their large hearts reach out in sympathy to every nation 
under the sun. It is enough to say that they made it 
possible to open the Zenrin (Neighborhood Improve- 
ment) Kindergarten when I returned to Japan. 

On the 3d of February, 1895, when the Japanese 
nation was frantic with excitement over its victorious 
war with China, we made a little opening for our 
school in a two-storied Japanese house in the heart of 
Fukuai Mura, Onohama, a thickly populated district 
of Kobe, whose people all belong to the humbler orders 
of society. 

As this was to be a Christian settlement where our 
teachers were to live as well as teach, it was very 
desirable that we should secure a Bible-woman who 
should be old enough to matronize the home. In this 
we were particularly fortunate; for three years, Mrs. 
Kodera, a widow of mature years and experienced in 
Christian work, acted as matron of our little establish- 
ment. Her strikingly peaceful countenance, together 
with her age, soon gave her acceptance with the people 
and a ready entrance into their homes, where her gentle 
ways and kindly acts of service caused her to be 
regarded as a friend to be called upon in any hour of 
need. 

I began with but one teacher, Miss Matsu (pine) 
Yoshikawa, a young graduate of the Mary L. Colby 
Home, Yokohama, and a faithful little pine-tree she 
has been, never once in the five years absent from her 
place; other teachers have come and gone, and many 
times my heart would have been heavy indeed but for 
her unfailing interest in her work. 


161 


At first the neighbors were very suspicious of us. 
Why should we make such generous offers to teach 
their neglected children unless we had some evil pur- 
pose in view? But one day a forlorn looking little 
fellow, most devotedly nursing a sickly baby, whose 
small body seemed to be covered with sores, ventured 
to look in upon our comfortable rooms. He was met 
by kindness and soon came again with two or three 
companions. In time these were joined by others, 
but it was only after many visits that the first comer 
dared to take his precious baby off his back and leave 
it to the care of the nurse whom we had provided while 
he devoted himself to study and play — two things for 
which he seemed sadly in need. 

Partly because the people could not understand the 
kindness meant in the opening of a free school to keep 
their children off the streets, and partly because we 
thought it would contribute more to their self-respect, 
we gave out that we would receive as monthly tuition 
any amount that they could afford to give. Thus far 
it has averaged about five sen (two and a half cents) 
per month per child, and is used toward buying the 
materials needed in their kindergarten occupations. 

Soon the numbers began to increase rapidly, and I 
felt that I must have a trained kindergarten teacher to 
act as principal, for my part was to be that of organ- 
izer, ‘‘ promoter,” as they say here, combined with the 
post of general assistant. Again we were wonderfully 
favored in getting the services of one who had received 
good training and was experienced in the work, but 
among a very different class of children, for up to this 
time all the kindergartens established in Japan had 
been for the children of the middle and higher classes 
of society. 

Miss Takano’s friends were very much averse to her 
taking what they considered such a humble position, 
and as she continually received offers much more 
flattering as far as position and salary were concerned, 
we felt that she only stayed with us because the love 
of God constrained her to work for these needy ones ; 


162 


but she was a born kindergartner, and the charm of 
her loving enthusiasm soon made itself felt, not only 
in the school-room, but in the homes of the children 
also. 

These little street waifs, without a particle of home 
training, wild and unkempt in manners and appear- 
ance, were transformed into bright, lovable, well- 
behaved children. The babies were put into one room 
and we hired a strong and faithful young woman to 
look after them and to help in keeping our home clean ; 
she is still with us and has been no small element in 
the success of our establishment. The wee ones were 
seated at little tables and formed the kindergarten, while 
the larger children began to learn to read and write. 

Soon their older sisters who were working in match 
factories or tea-firing godowns, or were sorting rags 
for the paper mill near at hand, began to get jealous 
that they should be left so far behind in educational . 
privileges, and they came with a petition that they 
might be taught at night after the day’s work was 
over. This was the beginning of our night classes for 
working girls. 

About this time Miss Takenaka, of Tokyo, joined 
our kindergarten staff; Miss Nagai, of Kobe, also 
came to live at the home. She and Miss Yoshikawa 
took charge of the evening classes, and also helped as 
Bible-women in the neighborhood and in the Kobe 
Baptist church work. We engaged Dr. Goda, a skilful 
Japanese physician, to look after the health of the 
children; while he cannot afford to give his services 
wholly without pay, he makes a most generous reduc- 
tion as regards advice and medicines. He comes to 
the kindergarten at a regular hour, once a week, and 
it is understood that any family connected with the 
school can consult him freely at this time, and if medi- 
cine is required it will be furnished at a price within 
their reach. The doctor has had excellent success in 
treating the eye troubles and skin diseases, so preva- 
lent among this class, and we are justly proud of the 
personal appearance of our Zenrin children. 


163 


By the time we had entered upon the third year of 
our work, the kindergarten had outgrown its accommo- 
dations and no larger were to be had in the vicinity ; 
we had no playground for the children but the narrow 
road in front of the house, which was often blocked 
with loaded carts, making it a dangerous place for the 
little ones to play; we had no room large enough for 
the games and no space for marching, and we keenly 
felt the deprivation of these joyous elements of kinder- 
garten life. 

Every little chair at our tables was occupied, and 
we had a long list of names waiting to fill any vacan- 
cies that might occur, for now the parents had come to 
believe in us and were anxiously asking that their 
children might come before they should be too old to 
attend. 

Again we appealed through the Woman’s Board of 
the East to the friends in the home land, and again 
there was a generous response to our needs, enabling 
us to begin our fourth year of work in a new and com- 
modious house, built especially for the kindergarten, 
and finely located, not far from the place where we 
began work ; so we are in touch with all our old friends. 

The new building was finished and ready for dedica- 
tion on the 17th of May, 1898. There was a large com- 
pany present, the parents and friends of the children 
being especially well represented. A pleasant pro- 
gram was prepared, the Rev. R. A. Thompson pre- 
siding, in which the pastor of the Kobe Baptist church 
and five evangelists took part. At the end of the 
religious and dedicatory service the children sang little 
songs and played some of their kindergarten games, 
much to the pride and admiration of their parents, and 
astonishing many of the other guests by the progress 
which they had made since the beginning of the work. 

Soon after our dedication we had to part with our 
lovely and gifted principal, who was married the last 
of May to a very worthy young man in Tokyo. We 
missed her greatly, but our present principal was asso- 
ciated with her in the work for nearly a year and seems 


164 


to have caught some of her inspiration, so things move 
on much as before. A little later we missed another 
valued worker; Mrs. Kodera was obliged to go home 
for a prolonged rest. 

Miss Akai came from Tokyo as teacher in the kinder- 
garten, and a few' months later we were so fortunate as 
to secure another teacher from the same city, who is a 
trained Bible-woman as well as an experienced kinder- 
gartner; and about the same time Miss Nagai left us 
for a home of her own. 

The year 1899 was one of vicissitude for Zenrin. 
Three severe typhoons visited Kobe in succession. 
Our kindergarten came in line of the first great storm 
and was seriously damaged, nor could we get a carpen- 
ter to make repairs before a second typhoon was upon 
us. This twisted the beams nearly out of their sockets, 
and we had barely succeeded in getting things patched 
up so we could begin school when the third of the series 
came along. The house was now in an absolutely 
dangerous condition, and we were obliged to send the 
children home until we could get the walls propped with 
pillars. These posts were very ugly and inconvenient, 
especially the five which it was necessary to put in our 
large play-room, but it was the best that could be done 
until we could get money for the repairs which the car- 
penter says must be done before another typhoon 
season comes around. 

Another cause of anxiety, in the early fall, were the 
sweeping promulgations sent out by the educational 
department of the government, which threatened to close 
all Christian schools. Fortunately for us, the limitation 
regarding Christian instruction stopped just short of 
the kindergarten age, but we were obliged to drop our 
class for little nurses, and to change our night classes 
into a working girls’ club. However, the latter has 
proved even more popular than the night school, Every 
month the club has a social and one or two lectures or 
entertainments, and for the rest, as their object is self- 
improvement, they have lessons in such very practical 
branches as reading, writing, sewing, and knitting; I 


165 


need hardly add that their teachers point out the way 
of salvation unwearyingly. 

When we were in the full swing of the fall work — 
sixty children in the kindergarten, twenty-five members 
attending the girls’ club, and from eighty to a hundred 
coming regularly to Sunday school, and a full corps of 
teachers and Bible-women at work — that dreadful 
plague germ from China came along, and camped down 
in Fukuai Mura. Almost simultaneously with its dis- 
covery word was sent us by the city authorities to close 
our kindergarten at once, and all meetings connected 
with it, as some of our children came from the infected 
district, and some of our club girls were among the 
sorters of the infected rags. ‘This was the middle of 
November, and for six weeks and more all schools in 
the plague districts were closed, and no public meet- 
ings were allowed in that part of the city. The whole 
city underwent a thorough sanitary upheaval. It was 
a very trying period, and had a chilling effect upon all 
kinds of activity. Our workers stayed bravely by the 
Zenrin settlement, although urged to come to a healthier 
part of the city. No house-to-house visiting was 
allowed, but they said the people who could not leave 
their homes would be still more terrified if they saw 
the Christian teachers fleeing from the neighborhood. 

It was not until the 15th of January, 1900, that we 
were permitted to reopen the school and pick up our 
lines of work, and early in February we were nearly 
burnt out; two houses next door to us burned down 
about two o’clock in the morning. Our teachers were 
awakened by the crackling of the flames and hastily 
caught a few things which they hoped to save, but 
expected the Zenrin to go. However, the police and 
the fathers of the children came running to the rescue ; 
they rallied around the building, saying, ‘‘ We must 
not let the kindergarten burn.” We felt greatly en- 
couraged from this proof of their gratitude for its help 
to their children. 

Notwithstanding all these vicissitudes we were able 
to send out a class of thirty children this spring who 


166 

have finished the kindergarten course. This makes 
eighty-seven children in all who have passed through 
this department, most of them into the publie schools. 
Many of them continue to come to our Sunday school 
regularly. There bave been several conversions and 
additions to our church from this vicinity directly due 
to the influence of the settlement, and a marked im- 
provement in the character of our neighbors, so much 
so that the landlords in raising the rents have attributed 
the increased value of the land to the presence of the 
kindergarten. From the working girls’ classes two 
have gone to our Baptist Girls’ School in Himeji to fit 
themselves for teachers. Is n’t that grand? And 
does it not pay for all the time and money so far 
expended? But the result of the influence which these 
years of teaching will have upon the little ones is as yet 
unknown. It is the Japan of the future that will reap 
the benefit of this early sowing of the seed, which I am 
convinced will not return void, but will bear fruit, 
some thirty, some sixty, and some even an hundred 
fold. 


——— 

















THE SWATOW 
GIRLS’ SCHOOL 


® ‘ “. ae 
Spt IE Snare ore 


THREE CHINESE SCHOOL GIRLS. 


167 


THE BOYS’ BOARDING SCHOOL AT SWATOW. 
WILLIAM ASHMORE, JR. 


Location. The school is located in the spacious and 
beautiful mission compound at Kak-chie. This lies 
across the bay from the Chinese city of Swatow, and 
about one mile distant. The surroundings both physi- 
eal and moral are healthful, and the place is admirably 
fitted for the education of young boys whose characters 
are still in the process of forming. 

Building. The house erected by the Woman’s Bap- 
tist Foreign Missionary Society, at a cost of about 
$600, is a long, narrow building, thirty feet wide by 
one hundred feet long, originally one story high, and 
containing a school-room, two sleeping-rooms, a dinihg- 
room, all of uniform size, together with some smaller 
rooms for kitcheu, teacher’s room, ete. To this there 
was added some years later a small outside building 
for kitchen, and still later, as the needs of a growing 
school required it, a second story was put on to the 
main building, and separate school-rooms were thus 
provided for the two departments, primary and inter- 
mediate, into which the school was now divided. Even 
these enlarged accommodations have, in the recent 
years, been outgrown. ‘This consideration, tog>ther 
with the advantage of having the two departments of 
the school more completely separated, led to the trans- 
fer, in 1897, of the primary department to another 
building in the compound that was temporarily avail- 
able. Two years later, when the new building for the 
girls’ school was completed and occupied, the old 
building vacated by the girls was occupied by the 
primary department of the boys’ school. 

Beginning. Early in the history of the work at 
Swatow the missionaries began to impress on the minds 
of the Chinese converts the importance of a Christian 
education for their children. They at the same time 


168 


urged upon them the duty of taking hold of this matter 
as of a responsibility that primarily belonged to them- 
selves. At one of the bi-monthly meetings held in the 
fall of 1874, when the preachers and other native 
helpers had come in from the country, together with 
such others of the native converts as could come, the 
question of schools was taken up and discussed. It 
was voted to appropriate from the regular funds of the 
church a part of the salary of the teacher in the girls’ 
school (already in operation), and also an equal amount 
toward the salary of a teacher for a boys’ school, to 
be opened at the beginning of the next year. The 
teacher for the latter school was also chosen at this 
time. Miss Fielde already had, in connection with 
her work for Bible-women, the nucleus of a school. 
Some of the women in the training class had their chil- 
dren with them. These, with perhaps one or two 
others, a half dozen in all, were being taught to read, 
and this work, for the lack of other accommodation, 
was done in the Bible-women’s house. The new school 
was regularly opened at the beginning of the year 1875, 
with about a dozen pupils, and under the general oyer- 
sight of Miss Fielde. The number of church mem- 
bers in the Swatow mission at this time was about 
three hundred. 

Aim. From the beginning the aim of the school has 
been to give to the children of the native converts a 
Christian education, and this in order to make them 
better and more useful men and chureh members, and 
especially to fit any from among them who might go 
into active Christian work for better and more effective 
service. This fundamental principle has limited the 
selection of pupils to boys belonging to Christian fam- 
ilies, or having Christian connections. It has also 
shaped the course of study pursued. 

Curriculum. In the carrying out of the aim just 
stated it is natural that the Bible should have had the 
place of honor in the course of study. A large portion 
of time has always been given to the study of God’s 
Word. The Gospels in the colloquial (or vernacular) 


169 


are made. the reading book just as soon as the pupils 
have gotten beyond their most elementary lessons. 
When they are a little further advanced they take up 
the various parts of the New Testament in the wen li 
or classical language. They learn to give the substance 
of the story in the Gospels, and in the historical parts 
of the Old Testament. And lastly they carefully memo- 
rize whole books of the New Testament, and selected 
Psalms of the Old Testament. The value of this long 
and careful training in the Bible is apparent when these 
boys come to enter upon the work of the preacher’s 
training class, and when they engage in the actual 
work of preaching and teaching. 

Besides the Bible some of the sciences have been 
taught in elementary form. At first suitable text-books 
on these subjects could not be had; but in these later 
years good outlines have been prepared in the several 
branches, and now physiology, geography, physical and 
political, arithmetic, astronomy, ete., have taken their 
place as a regular part of the curriculum, and they are 
likely to claim more of the time as the years go on. 
Some time, but comparatively little, and that more with 
the advanced pupils, has been allowed to the study of 
the Chinese classics. This is in order that those who 
have been through the school may not be wholly unpre- 
pared to meet on their own ground, when occasion 
requires, the educated Chinese with whom they must 
sooner or later come into contact in the doing of 
Christian work. And finally no small share of time 
has to be given to learning to write the hundreds, yes, 
thousands, of complicated Chinese characters that a 
Chinaman must have at his command in order to have a 
fairly good education. 

Expenses. The school expenses have included the 
cost of the building and furniture, the salary of the 
teacher, the books and stationery used, and the board 
of the pupils. In the earlier years these expenses were 
almost wholly met by the annual appropriations from 
the Women’s Board; but as the years have gone by 
the native church has been doing more and more. 


170 


From the outset they have paid a part, nearly one half, 
of the salary of the teacher. The next step was the 
requiring of fees from the pupils. These fees were not 
large at first, but they were a beginning, and they 
would meet from one fourth to one third of the expenses 
for board. Quite recently the amount of the fees has 
been considerably increased, with a sliding seale accord- 
ing to the financial ability of the parents. Without this 
provision there was danger of working great hardship 
to some, and of entirely shutting out others who ought 
to be in the school. The largest fee fixed was intended 
at the time to cover the entire actual cost of board; 
and it was a great gratification to the missionaries that 
the people fairly recognized the principle that the entire 
cost of educating their children properly belonged to 
themselves. 

Teachers. ‘The school has been blessed with a 
succession of good teachers. All but one of these, the 
first, had themselyes been pupils in the school, a fact 
that has had a most important bearing on the efficiency 
of their work. The teacher trained along native lines 
is not fitted to do well the kind of work needed in a 
mission school. A mission school training is required 
for such service, and this training all the teachers, 
except the first, have had. The first teacher was, after 
four or five years, succeeded by his son, a young man 
of excellent ability, whose name had been the very 
first one in the roll of pupils. For a number of years 
this son filled the place better than his father had done, 
and he was afterwards transferred to other important 
work, especially the translating of the New Testament 
into the colloquial, in which sphere of labor he has 
rendered invaluable service. 

Results. In this, as in all mission work, there are 
results that cannot be tabulated. And yet something 
may be learned from figures. From the opening of 
the school up to March, 1900, two hundred and ninety 
boys had been enrolled as pupils for longer or shorter 
periods. Some stayed only a few months, others com- 
pleted the course of study, remaining in the school for 


EGy 


four or five years, or even longer, and then going on 
into the training class for preachers. The career of 
some has. been a sore disappointment, and in this the 
missionary has only shared the experience of many a 
Christian worker in the home land. One hundred and 
twenty-one have been baptized, and of these there were 
in March, 1900, thirty-one engaged in various forms 
of mission service, ten of the thirty-one were pastors 
or evangelists, and seventeen were school-teachers, who 
in nearly every case combine the work of preaching with 
that of teaching. These boys, now men, are making an 
excellent use of the training received in the school. 
They are among the best and most faithful and most 
efficient of all the mission helpers, and a large share of 
their success as Christian workers is without question 
due to what the school has done for them. 

The general oversight of the school was exercised by 
Miss Fielde during the earlier years, and until 1880, 
when it was transferred to Rey. Wm. Ashmore, Jr., 
with whom it has remained until the present time, 
excepting the intervals of his absence from the mission 
field, when it has been in the hands of some of the 
missionaries who have been on the field at the time. 





172 


THE SWATOW GIRLS’ SCHOOL. 


In September of 1851 Mrs. J. W. Johnson opened 
a school for girls at Hong Kong, and continued it 
under her own superintendence and support. 

In 1860 the mission was removed to Double Island, 
near the entrance of the bay on which Swatow stands, 
and Mrs. Johnson opened a school for girls at once. In 
1863 there were in the school twelve boarding and six 
day scholars. On the transfer of the mission from 
Double Island to Kak-chieh, Mrs. Johnson continued 
the school, using for school-rooms the lower part of 
their dwelling-house The average number of boarding 
pupils in this school was about twelve, but the influence 
of Mrs. Johnson’s work is felt up to the present time, 
many of the girls haying proved themselves earnest 
Christians and efficient workers in the church. 

Mr. Johnson’s death occurred in 1872, and Mrs. 
Johnson gave up the school in the following year. 

The plan of this school was an expensive one, but 
it seemed necessary at that time to furnish the clothing 
of the girls, as well as to meet all the expenses for 
board, teachers, and incidentals of all kinds. 

In the autumn of 1874 Mrs. S. B. Partridge began 
a school with five pupils in a small house in the com- 
pound, called the ‘* Valley House,” allowing each girl 
$1.30 per month for food, fuel, lights, ete., the parents 
to be responsible for all else that might be necessary. 
In addition to the book lessons, the girls were taught 
‘*to keep the house clean, to cook their own food, 
and to sew.” The Woman’s Baptist Foreign Mission- 
ary Society made an appropriation of $150 for the 
school, also an appropriation of $400 for a school-house 
which was built in the following year. 

The annual report of the society for 1876 says: 
‘**This school is under the care of Mrs. Partridge, 
assisted by a native teacher and matron. There are 


173 


now twelve girls connected with it, who have been 
enjoying since July last the comfortable house which 
we have secured for them. They say that never before 
did Chinese girls here have sucha pleasant home given 
them. It was completed the day before a severe rain 
storm rendered the ‘valley house,’ formerly occupied 
by the school, uninhabitable. We cannot forbear call- 
ing special attention to the fact that a comfortable 
school-house, including sleeping-rooms, was built for 
four hundred dollars gold, and that a school of twelve 
girls is supported, and the salaries of teacher and 
matron paid, from two hundred and fifty dollars per 
year.” 

Mr. and Mrs. Partridge returned to the United 
States for rest in 1878, and the school was for a few 
months in the care of Miss Thompson, ‘The report for 
the year states that ‘‘ Miss Thompson wished to go 
into the country in October, and the school was there- 
fore dismissed. It was afterwards reopened by Miss 
Norwood, with the promise from parents that their 
daughters’ feet should not be bound, and that they 
should not be betrothed to heathen.” 

On her return to the field in December, 1880, Mrs. 
Partridge resumed charge of the school, and her report 
for the following year shows that there were seventeen 
pupils, sixteen of whom were church members. The 
report states that ‘‘ We have the four Gospels, Acts, 
Romans, and Hebrews printed in character colloquial. 
The girls learn to read that first, and afterwards they 
take the Bible in the classical style. . . . Mrs. Ash- 
more, Jr., has consented to give help in the school this 
year, and we two together could easily manage twice 
the number of girls we now have.” 

At the death of Mrs. Partridge, which occurred in 
January, 1882, Mrs. Ashmore assumed the entire 
charge of the school, and has continued it until the 
present time, except that in her absences from the field 
it has been in the temporary charge of others. Dur- 
ing 1882 the number of pupils became twenty, which 
was as many as the house could conveniently accom- 


174 


modate. In 1887 Mrs. Ashmore transferred the 
school to Mrs. (M. E.) Partridge’s care, as it was 
necessary that she should go to the United States for 
rest. 

The school had advanced year by year. The course 
of study had been enlarged, and weaving had been 
introduced. In 1889 the school-house was enlarged 
and improved, and the number of pupils was increased 
to twenty-four. As Mr. and Mrs. Partridge were 
obliged to return to the United States in January, 
1890, the care of the school was assumed by Mrs. 
Foster, who continued in charge till the return of 
Mrs. Ashmore, at the close of the following year. 

At the beginning of 1892 there were thirty-three 
girls in the school, and prosperity has been its marked 
characteristic during the years since that time. Fees 
have been required of the pupils for several years, and 
in October, 1898, the native church took up the matter 
and decided that the fees should be nine, six, and 
four dollars per year, according to the ability of the 
parents. 

In her report for 1899, Mrs. Ashmore, Jr., states: 
‘* Early in the year we began to plan for the en- 
largement of our school work. ‘The general work has 
been growing more rapidly than in former years, and 
the school work has shared in this advance also. The 
present school building has long been filied. With the 
increasing membership, and a growing desire on the 
part of the Christians to educate the girls, we felt it 
necessary to lay broader foundations. The building 
authorized by the Board has been begun, and now at 
the close of the year the foundations are nearly done. 
Early in the year the building will be completed and 
ready for occupancy. It will accommodate eighty or 
ninety girls. We hope in the future to make this an 
advanced as well as a primary school, and the brighter 
pupils who have spent three years in the country school 
can enter and be prepared for teachers and helpers. 
The church has made an advance in the line of 
giving fees. As a committee of the members them- 





selves decided what the fees should be, we feel that it 
is areal progzess. . . . The six country schools, while 
not supported by the society, are not entirely self-sup- 
porting. The ‘Drawn Work Fund’ has furnished 
the necessary help to carry themon. Fees are given in 
some cases by the church where the school is, and in 
others by the parents whose children attend.” 

The school-house mentioned in this report has been 
completed and furnished at a cost of $1,800 in gold, 
and paid for by Mrs. Ashmore, Jr., from the proceeds 
of the sales of ‘drawn work” maae by women and 
girls, many of whom were graduates of this school. 

The number of girls who have had the advantage of 
the school since 1874 is a few more than two hundred, 
many of whom are Christian wives of Christian men, 
and are exerting a great influence for good in the 
churches to which they belong. 


NOTES ON BANZA MANTEKE SCHOOLS. 


As early as 1880, so soon as he had gained some 
knowledge of the language, Mr. Richards began school 
work with such of the village boys as could be per- 
suaded to attend. His dining-room was the school- 
room for six years. 

After the great revival of 1886, with the opening of 
evangelistic work in the surrounding districts, followed 
the establishment of the village school. All converts 
were expected to attend. These schools have steadily 
grown in number till now there are thirty-five, with an 
enrolment of 1,726 pupils. 

Most of the teachers have spent eight montbs in 
the Evangelists’ Training School here on the station. 
They are able to teach reading and writing, and sim- 
ple work in arithmetic. They are in most all cases 
preachers as well as teachers. As the school work 
has reached a point where more eflicient teachers are 
needed, we have opened an advanced school for the 
best pupils of these out-schools —a two years’ course 
of study, with ourselves as teachers, a strict discip- 
line, work hours as well as study and play hours. 

It is our purpose to conduct this school on the ap- 
proved modern methods, in so far as they seem appli- 
cable to the field, and we believe its graduates, as 
teachers in the town schools, will prove a powerful 
lever for raising the present grade. 

The station schools have always been taught by the 
missionaries, so of course are far superior to out- 
schools. The primary department is conducted along 
kindergarten lines, and is in charge of Mrs. Clara Hill 
Leslie. During Mrs. Richards’ absence, Miss Ger- 
trude Welles lad charge of the school for the older 
pupils. From its earliest days Mrs. Richards has had 
the oversight and care of the school work. During a 
number of years Mrs. Charles Ingham rendered valu- 
able assistance, having been a London Board teacher. 


‘YOIudV ‘OXOX! LY TOOHODS NOISSIW yYno 


SBD DDD Cee eee 


























Lay 


Later Miss Frances A. Cole gave her best thought 
and energies to school work. ‘The station woman’s 
school is a very interesting feature of the work. 
Besides the ‘‘ three R’s,” there is a sewing time. 
Here the women buy cloth enough for a dress, which 
is cut and basted for them, and they are shown how 
to sew it. They make their own and their children’s 
dresses. We greatly desire to make this sewing hour 
a feature of every village school; but as yet it is im- 
possible, and our teachers’ wives are not able to con- 
duct the work. One of our pet schemes is to have the 
girls of our new school taught to do such work and 
made sufliciently confident to teach others. All these 
things take time. 


178 


SKETCH OF IKOKO SCHOOL—ITS HISTORY 
AND PURPOSE. 


REV. JOSEPH CLARK. 


School work was commenced under a tree at Ikoko, 
Lake Mantumba, by Mrs. Clark, in January, 1894. 
In May, 1894, we were removed to Irebu station, and 
the newly begun work at this place was left in charge 
of a native lad. In January, 1895, we returned to 
Ikoko, and Mrs. Clark again took up school work under 
a shady tree. 

In March she was joined by her sister, Miss G. 
Milne (now Mrs. Harvey), who had for some months 
been working at Irebu, and to her Mrs. Clark gave up 
the school work. Both are Scotch certificated teachers, 
so that from the first days we have had the advantage 
of experience in school management. Miss Milne’s 
first school-house was a native hut with one end anda 
side removed, and it certainly was well ventilated 
and lighted. 

Seven months afterwards, Miss Lena Clark arrived 
from Spelman Seminary, Atlanta, and took up work 
as assistant teacher. Since Miss Milne left us in 
March, 1897, the classes in school have all been in 
Miss Lena’s care, while for writing and dictation cer- 
tain of them go to Mrs. Clark on the veranda of our 
dwelling-house. 

For a long time we conducted school at night also, 
and Mr. R. R. Milne gave valuable help in its manage- 
ment. <All through the history of the Ikoko school I 
have acted as ‘* director” and have helped in various 
ways as necessity demanded. 

Since opening the station, fourteen have been bap- 
tized, all of whom had previous to conversion been 
pupils in school. There are now about a dozen appli- 
cants for church membership, and others either profess 
conversion or a desire to know and follow Jesus, while 
a minority are indifferent. I think that we may safely 


179 


say that fifty per cent of those who have been three 
years with us at school are professing Christians, and 
that of many of the others we have good cause for hope. 

We have only one person who professed conversion 
before attending school. As we insist that all God’s 
people should be able to read God’s book, he now 
attends school, and you would be interested to see this 
tall man standing with little children and learning from 
a young lad to read syllables and words. 

While it gives us pleasure to note the good progress 
in school, and to be told by visitors that we are second 
to none on the Upper Congo in our educational work, 
I would have it distinctly understood that the primary 
object of the school is not simply to educate, but to 
bring the pupils to a saving knowledge of Jesus. We 
only value the progress in knowledge in so far as it 
helps either to bring the pupils out of ‘* darkness 
into light,” or, by reason of the disciplined and 
equipped minds, enables them the better to become 
‘* fishers of men.” The reading books are the Gospels 
and other books of a religious character. Selected 
texts in their own language are memorized, which with 
these children seems to be an easy matter. Hymns 
are taught and sung, and you can even see and hear in 
the village the almost nude little urchins singing gospel 
hymns which have been carried from school possibly 
by an elder sister. 

As French is the official language, a few minutes 
are daily spent in teaching, viva voce, some words or 
phrases in that tongue. 

The most interesting class is that studying the Gos- 
pels twice every week from 8 to 9 a.m. The highest 
and second classes are combined for this, forming a 
company of fully thirty. They read the Gospel in the 
Bobangi tongue, which is spoken on the Congo River 
from Irebu to below our Chumbiri station, and these 
young people understand it. All remarks on the les- 
son are made in the Ikoko language, and at the peri- 
odie examinations the questions are given in our 
dialect, as also are the written answers. This gives 


182 


fully twenty years connected with the mission. He 
passed into my hands about fifteen years ago. He 
knows a good deal of English, some French, and, like 
Vinda, his own and two other African tongues. He 
at present holds our only out-station, two days’ jour- 
ney from here. He is not so good a teacher as Vinda, 
but otherwise is very useful. He also is married and 
has one son. 

Willie Lufwilu, My acquaintance with Willie dates 
back about eighteen years. He was a slave, and 
we purchased his freedom. He has paid this money 
_ back. Willie is more at home with a hammer and 
chisel, or with a file, than with pen or pencil, and only 
helps in school because there is a stronger will than 
his. He, too, is of great use to me in such things as 
mending a bolt, making a firing-pin for my shotgun, 
fixing a handle on an iron bucket, sharpening a saw, or 
patching a par. He takes a share in the open-air 
services in Ikoko. These three young men all married 
young women more or less trained in the Ikoko 
school. 


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